Revealed: How Baghdad plans to rein in Iran

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In this Jan. 9, 2016 photo, Jamal jaafar, also known as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, center, attends a ceremony marking Police Day in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim, File)
Updated 14 July 2019
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Revealed: How Baghdad plans to rein in Iran

  • Pressure from Ayatollah Al-Sistani leads to prime minister’s dismantling and restructuring of armed factions
  • Heated dispute after powerful commander linked to Revolutionary Guards is stripped of his authority

BAGHDAD: Dismantling pro-Iranian armed factions operating in Iraq under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Commission (PMC) and integrating its fighters with independent volunteers within the same body is at the heart of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s plan to institutionalize the PMC and limit Iran’s control over its fighters.

The drive to “restructure and reorganize” the PMC’s forces is Abdul Mahdi’s response to pressure from the powerful Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, who sees these factions as a threat to the political process and a tool to undermine the authority of the state.

Sistani, global head of the Shiite community and the most revered cleric in Iraq, has been the sponsor of the political process since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein — and the only one who can end it with one word.

The PMC was created by former Iraqi prime minister Nouri Al-Maliki in July 2014 to provide a government umbrella for armed factions and volunteers who fought Daesh alongside the government. It comprises at least 150,000 fighters, mostly Shiites.

Armed Shiite factions, including Iranian-backed groups such as the Badr Organization, Kata’ib Hezbollah-Iraq and Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq — the most powerful in terms of numbers and equipment — are the backbone of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and have played a pivotal role in defeating Daesh. However, they have been accused of atrocities against Sunnis, and of being tools to pressure the government for illegal financial and political gain.

Under a law passed in 2016, the PMF’s duties are determined by the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi armed forces, but the reality is that most of the factions are not subject to the orders of the Iraqi government and do not report to Iraqi military authorities.




Iraqi PM Adil Abdul Mahdi

Restructuring these factions and integrating their fighters with independent volunteers would dilute their power and prevent their commanders from taking advantage of the PMC’s financial and human resources, PMC commanders close to Sistani told Arab News.

“We want the decisions of the PMC to be Iraqi, and not to use their forces to implement an Iranian agenda,” one said.“The PMC must be institutionalized and subordinated to the regular military organization’s controls. The PMF must not be stronger than the army under any circumstances.”

The plan was prepared by a committee formed by Abdul Mahdi, and led by Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir Yarallah, commander of joint military operations. The other members are Abu Montadher Al-Husseini, commander of PMFs operations,and Hamed Al-Shatri, deputy head of the National Security Service and administrative assistant to the head of the PMC. There are three stages: A decree outlining the proposals, approval of the organizational structure, and the settlement of salaries. The decree was issued on July 1, and salaries have been agreed upon.

“The first and third stages have been implemented because we have been working on this since last year, and work is underway to implement the second stage, which is the most difficult,” one of Abdul Mahdi’s security advisers told Arab News. “The signs so far are that all the  factions are responding positively, but we don’t feel comfortable. The real situation will not be be clear until at least July 30.”

Creating a new organizational structure begins with dismantling the brigades of each armed faction. “The core of the idea is to end the factions by dismantling their brigades and forming new ones, each of which will contain fighters from different factions along with independent fighters, taking into account the sectarian and ethnic balance,” a leading commander involved in the process told Arab News.

“This is the most difficult step because the factions associated with Iran are trying to circumvent it by accepting all the proposals except those that require the dissolution of their brigades and the integration of their fighters with others.

“Everything depends on this step. It will mean reducing the risk of these factions by 80 percent, which is what Sistani wants.”

Under the new salary settlement, which is already in operation, each fighter receives his salary directly from government banks using Q Cards, a form of electronic payment. Before, unit commanders received and distributed salaries, a system that reinforced their control of the fighters and was open to widespread corruption.

“We discovered thousands of spacemen (fake fighters) who were either expelled, left or lost during the fighting, but their names were not removed from the payroll so their commanders continued to receive their salaries,” Abdul Mahdi’s adviser said.

“We also found that most of the fighters were not getting their full salaries because the faction leaders were using the cash to fund their own fighters and activities outside the PMC.”

The plan will also curb the powers of some PMC leaders and remove others, with the aim of  limiting Iran’s influence. At the top of that list is Jamal Jaafar, also known as Abu Mahdi Al-Mohandes, or “the Engineer,” deputy head of the PMC but de facto commander of its forces. Mohandes, 65, was sentenced to death in his absence by a court in Kuwait for his role in deadly bombings there in 1983, he has been designated a terrorist by the US, and he is close to Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The organizational restructuring requires that Faleh Al-Fayadh, current head of the PMC, head of the National Security Service and known as “Iran’s man in Iraq,” retain his roles in return for appointing Al-Mohandes chief of staff and vice-chairman of the PMC —  but stripped of any financial or administrative authority. In addition, Abu Zainab Al-Lami will be moved from his role as the manager of PMC security to be a deputy to the Interior Minister, and Abu Montadher Al-Husseini becomes a secretary-general for Abdul Mahdi.

These moves resulted in a heated dispute between Al-Mohandes and Fayyad, three prominent PMF commanders told Arab News. However, Ayatollah Al-Sistani’s insistence on “trimming the nails of Al-Mohandes” and reducing Iran’s influence on the PMC “forced everyone to accept the settlement.”

“The Engineer represents the biggest challenges to Abdul Mahdi’s plan because he works without laws or regulations, so he had to be dealt with calmly, transferring the battle from outside the body to inside, between the Engineer and Fayyad.

“Limiting Al-Mohandes’s authority is great progress compared to before, when all the authority was exclusively in his hands, although he was not the head of the PMC.”

Abdul Mahdi’s adviser said: “All the indications are that Al-Mohandes is a burnt card, and that Iran has offered him up as a scapegoat to please Sistani.

“Iran is in an unenviable position, and it is not in its interest now to provoke Sistani or create any problem leading to a new front that may end its influence in Iraq.”

Most of the influential Shiite armed factions have publicly announced their acceptance of the new structure, except Kata’ib Hezbollah; they want the inclusion of Kurdish peshmerga forces, armed groups linked to the Kurdish leaders, and the Sunni tribes linked exclusively to US troops in Iraq. The structure also requires the disclosure of the names of fighters and their leaders, and their real addresses, which does sit well with Kata’ib Hezbollah’s usual secrecy.However, a PMC commander close to Soleimani said all factions would be subject to the structure, including Kata’ib, and there would be intensive meetings in the coming days to agree on the details.

“There is great pressure on the prime minister from Sistani and the Americans to rein in the factions and control them,” a prominent PMF commander close to Soleimani told Arab News.

“The regional and international challenges are great, and it is not in the interests of Iran or Iraq that any Iranian-backed faction act against the will of the Iraqi government.”


Palestinian teenager with US citizenship shot dead by Israeli settler, Palestinian officials say

Updated 16 sec ago
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Palestinian teenager with US citizenship shot dead by Israeli settler, Palestinian officials say

  • Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids on Bedouin villages and encampments, has intensified since the Gaza war began in October 2023

RAMALLAH: A Palestinian teenager with US citizenship was killed after being shot by an Israeli settler in the West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, Palestinian officials said on Sunday, as tensions continue to escalate amid a surge in settler violence and near-daily confrontations between Israeli settlers and Palestinians across the occupied territory.
Omar Mohammad Rabea, 14, was shot along with two other teenagers by an Israeli settler at the entrance to Turmus Ayya, the town’s mayor, Adeeb Lafi, told Reuters.
“Two of them were transported by ambulance to a nearby medical center and then to the hospital. The army arrived at the scene and detained the third injured boy, who is 14 years old and holds US citizenship,” Lafi said.
The army later pronounced Rabea dead and is still holding his body, Lafi added. The Palestinian health ministry confirmed his death, saying he was killed by “occupation forces.”
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli army.
Settler violence in the West Bank, including incursions into occupied territory and raids on Bedouin villages and encampments, has intensified since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
European countries and the previous US administration under President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, though the White House under President Donald Trump removed these sanctions.

 


Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

Updated 12 min 6 sec ago
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Syria’s president to visit Turkiye and UAE next week

  • Sharaa and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham

BEIRUT: Syria’s President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will make his first visit to the United Arab Emirates and is also scheduled to visit Turkiye next week, the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday, as he continues to garner support for the new administration.
Sharaa, who previously visited Turkiye in February, will make the UAE his second Gulf destination after traveling to
Saudi Arabia that same month on his first foreign trip since assuming the presidency in January.
He and other members of the new Syrian leadership have been working to strengthen ties with both Arab and Western leaders following the fall of Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive in December, led by Sharaa’s Sunni Islamist group, Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham.
Sharaa and his officials have also called for a full lifting of sanctions on Syria.
Syria is in desperate need of sanctions relief to kick start an economy collapsed by nearly 14 years of war, during which the United States, the UK and Europe placed tough sanctions on people, businesses and whole sectors of Syria’s economy in a bid to squeeze now-ousted leader Assad.

 


Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

Updated 22 min 11 sec ago
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Moroccans protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza and take aim at Trump

  • Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints
  • More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants

RABAT, Morocco: Tens of thousands of Moroccans on Sunday protested Israel’s latest offensive in Gaza, putting fury toward US President Donald Trump near the center of their grievances.
In the largest protest Morocco has seen in months, demonstrators denounced Israel, the United States and their own government. Some stepped on Israeli flags, held banners showing slain Hamas leaders and waved posters juxtaposing Trump alongside displaced Palestinians fleeing their homes.
Organizers condemned Israel’s ongoing military operation in Gaza. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed since Israel renewed air and ground strikes last month, aimed at pressuring Hamas to release remaining hostages.

Women lift a banner during a national march in support of Palestinians and against Morocco's normalisation of ties with Israel, in the capital Rabat on April 6, 2025. (AFP)

Such protests have erupted across the Middle East and North Africa, where leaders typically worry about demonstrations undermining domestic stability. Pro-Palestinian rallies were also staged this weekend in the capitals of Tunisia and Yemen as well as in Morocco’s most populous city Casablanca.
In countries that have historically aligned with the US, anti-Trump backlash has emerged as a theme. Demonstrators in Rabat on Sunday condemned his proposal to displace millions of Palestinians to make way for the redevelopment of Gaza. as well as the US efforts to pursue pro-Palestinian activists.
Still, many Moroccans said they saw Trump’s policies as mostly consistent with his predecessor, Joe Biden’s.
“(Trump) has made the war worse,” said Mohammed Toussi, who traveled from Casablanca with his family to protest.
“Biden hid some things but Trump has shown it all,” he added, likening their positions but not their messaging.
Protesters, Toussi said, remain angry about Morocco’s 2020 decision to normalize ties with Israel.
Abdelhak El Arabi, an adviser to Morocco’s former Islamist prime minister, said the reasons Moroccans were protesting had grown throughout the war. He predicted popular anger would continue until the war ends.
“It’s not a war, Gaza is getting erased from the earth,” the 62-year-old Tamesna resident said.
Demonstrations have included a range of groups, including the Islamist association al Adl Wal Ihsan. Moroccan authorities tolerate most protests, but have arrested some activists who have rallied in front of businesses or foreign embassies or implicated the monarchy in their complaints.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages. Most have since been released in ceasefire agreements and other deals. More than 50,000 Palestinians have been killed as part of Israel’s offensive, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say whether those killed are civilians or combatants. The war has left most of Gaza in ruins, and at its height displaced around 90 percent of the population.

 


Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

Updated 06 April 2025
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Sudan activists sound alarm on ‘catastrophic’ situation in besieged Darfur city

  • According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions

KHARTOUM: Civilians trapped in Sudan’s El-Fasher city are facing “catastrophic” conditions, activists warned on Sunday, with their situation rapidly deteriorating amid a months-long paramilitary siege.
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces have taken most of the vast Darfur region in their war against the regular army since April 2023, but El-Fasher in North Darfur remains the only regional state capital the RSF has not conquered.
A local advocacy group, the Darfur General Coordination of Camps for the Displaced and Refugees, said in a statement that residents “bear the brunt of artillery shelling” and live “with the sounds of aircraft and their terrifying and deadly missiles, in addition to the daily suffering of hunger, disease and drought.”
Life in El-Fasher and other areas of Darfur “has come to a complete standstill,” the group said, with no food at markets and a “complete halt” in humanitarian aid.
There was a sharp rise in prices of basic commodities and “a severe shortage in cash,” it added, warning of an “unprecedented and catastrophic deterioration” in already dire conditions in and around El-Fasher.
The RSF-aligned armed group Sudan Liberation Army called on Saturday for civilians in El-Fasher and the nearby displacement camps of Abu Shouk and Zamzan to leave, warning of an “escalation of military operations.”
Another RSF ally, the Gathering of Sudan Liberation Forces, said it was ready to “provide safe corridors” for residents to leave and head to “liberated areas” under paramilitary control.
In late March, the RSF announced its fighters had seized Al-Malha, which lies at the foot of a mountainous region 200 kilometers (124 miles) northeast of El-Fasher.
Al-Malha is one of the northernmost towns in the vast desert region between Sudan and Libya, where the RSF’s critical resupply lines have come under increasing attack in recent months by army-allied groups.
The war has created what the United Nations describes as the world’s worst hunger and displacement crises. More than 12 million people have been uprooted, tens of thousands killed and a UN-backed assessment declared famine in parts of the country.
According to UN estimates, around two million people face extreme food insecurity in North Darfur state, with 320,000 already suffering famine conditions.
Zamzam is one of three displacement camps around El-Fasher hit by famine, which a UN-backed assessment says is expected to spread to five more areas including the state capital itself by May.


Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 32, mostly women and children

Updated 06 April 2025
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Israeli strikes on Gaza kill 32, mostly women and children

  • The latest Israeli strikes overnight into Sunday hit a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip: Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 32 people, including over a dozen women and children, local health officials said Sunday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu headed to the United States to meet with President Donald Trump about the war.
Israel last month ended its ceasefire with Hamas and renewed its air and ground offensive, carrying out waves of strikes and seizing territory to pressure the militant group to accept a new deal for a truce and release of remaining hostages. It has also blocked the import of food, fuel and humanitarian aid for over a month to the coastal territory heavily reliant on outside assistance.
“Stocks are getting low and the situation is becoming desperate,” the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said on social media.
The latest Israeli strikes overnight into Sunday hit a tent and a house in the southern city of Khan Younis, killing five men, five women and five children, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies.
A female journalist was among those killed. “My daughter is innocent. She had no involvement, she loved journalism and adored it,” said her mother, Amal Kaskeen.
The body of one child, under 2 years old, took up just one end of an emergency stretcher.
“Trump wants to end the Gaza issue. He is in a hurry, and that is clear from this morning,” said Mohammad Abdel-Hadi, cousin of a woman killed.
Israeli shelling killed at least four people in the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The bodies of seven people, including a child and three women, arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, according to an Associated Press journalist there.
And a strike in Gaza City hit people waiting outside a bakery and killed at least six, including three children, according to the civil defense, which operates under the Hamas-run government.
Israel’s military said about 10 projectiles were fired from Gaza and most were intercepted, in the largest barrage from the territory since Israel resumed the war. Hamas’ military arm claimed responsibility. Israeli police said some fragments fell in Ashkelon city. There were no reports of injuries.
Netanyahu visits Trump amid anti-war protests
Dozens of Palestinians took to the streets in Jabaliya for a new round of anti-war protests. Footage circulating on social media showed people marching and chanting against Hamas. Such protests, while rare, have occurred in recent weeks.
There is also anger inside Israel over the war’s resumption and its effects on remaining hostages in Gaza. Families of hostages along with some of those recently freed from Gaza and their supporters on Saturday urged Trump to help ensure the fighting ends.
Netanyahu on Monday will meet with Trump for the second time since Trump began his latest term in January. The prime minister said they would discuss the war and the new 17 percent tariff imposed on Israel, part of a sweeping global decision by the new US administration.
“There is a very large queue of leaders who want to do this with respect to their economies. I think it reflects the special personal connection and the special connection between the United States and Israel, which is so vital at this time,” Netanyahu said while wrapping up a visit to Hungary.
The US, a mediator in ceasefire efforts along with Egypt and Qatar, expressed support for Israel’s resumption of the war last month.
The toll of war
Hundreds of Palestinians since then have been killed, among them 15 medics whose bodies were recovered only a week later. Israel’s military this weekend backtracked on its account of what happened in the incident, captured in part on video, that caused anger by Red Cross and Red Crescent and UN officials.
The war began when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostage. Fifty-nine hostages are still held in Gaza — 24 believed to be alive — after most of the rest were released in ceasefires or other deals.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 50,695 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants but says more than half were women and children. It says another 115,338 people have been wounded. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants, without providing evidence.