Alwaght- Iraqi Prime Minister has criticized meddlesome comments made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson regarding the country’s volunteer Popular Mobilization Forces involved in anti-ISIS operations.
“No party has the right to interfere in Iraqi matters,” Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al- Abadi's media office said in a statement on Monday.
Al-Abadi made the remarks after Tillerson said volunteer forces who are currently fighting along with Iraqi army against the ISIS terrorist group needed to leave the Arab country now that the battle was drawing to a close. Tillerson described the popular forces as foreigners.
“The foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control,” Tillerson said in the Saudi capital on Sunday.
Tillerson was speaking after a rare joint meeting with the leaders of Iraq and Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.
The Iraqi government was surprised by Tillerson’s suggestion, according to the release.
Popular Mobilization Forces is an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization composed of some 40 groups, which are mainly Shiite Muslims. The force reportedly numbers more than 100,000 fighters. Iraqi authorities say there are between 25,000 and 30,000 Sunni tribal fighters within its ranks in addition to Kurdish Izadi and Christian units.
ISIS Takfiri launched a terrorist offensive inside Iraq in 2014. It swiftly took over territory in the Arab country.
Following official request by the Iraqi government, Iran provided military advisors who played a crucial role in preventing the capital, Baghdad from falling to ISIS terrorists who are now virtually ejected from all Iraqi territories.
