Iraq's PMU commanders hold summit over US assassinations
Operation commanders of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units have convened to examine recent developments in the country, specifically US assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the Iraqi deputy PMU head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
Iraq’s al-Furat news channel reported on Friday that participants of the PMU summit, which also included administrative officials from different parts of the organization, stressed the PMU’s complete readiness to defend Iraq.
The PMU officials said the organization was committed to pursuing its objectives in compliance with the law, respecting the government’s authority and following the orders of the Iraqi military’s chief of staff.
The report did not further elaborate on results of the discussions.
The summit comes after Washington assassinated Muhandis and Soleimani, a formal guest of the Iraqi government, last week.
The assassinations have since led to major anti-American protests across Iran and Iraq and other parts of the region and the world.
Following Iran’s missile strike on the US airbase of Ain al-Assad in Iraq’s Anbar province on Wednesday, various Iraqi groups affiliated with the PMU have also vowed to respond to the American assassination.
During the PMU summit on Friday, participating officials stressed that the legacy of figures such as Soleimani and Muhandis further motivates the resistance organization to pursue its objectives.
The PMU officials also expressed gratitude to mourners for participating in funeral processions held for the assassinated commanders earlier this week.
The officials also thanked Iraq’s clerical establishment, led by Iraq's prominent Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, for its support and added that the PMU was committed to observing its instructions.
The PMU was formed following a June 2014 fatwa by Ayatollah Sistani calling on Iraqi citizens to volunteer and defend their country against Daesh terrorists who had unleashed a terror campaign across large parts of the country.
Deash was consequently vanquished by the Iraqi forces and is currently limited to dispersed cells operating in more remote areas of the country.
PMU halts Daesh advance near Mosul
In a separate PMU statement, the organization announced that it successfully halted an offensive launched by Daesh forces south of Mosul.
The statement said the operation was conducted by the 25 and 45 Brigades of the Nineveh Operations Command against Deash forces moving in from the direction of the al-Jazira region of Iraq’s north-central Salahuddin province.
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