Iraqi Voluntary Forces May Fight Daesh in Syria, Too: Commander
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Secretary General of Iraq’s Badr Organization Hadi al-Ameri raised the possibility of deploying the voluntary forces (known as the Popular Mobilization Units or Hashid al-Shaabi) to Syria to fight the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group there to make sure the militants will be wiped out.
“We have a mission to liberate the country (Iraq) and seal the borders tightly, and we will go to Syria if necessary, because we believe that if Daesh is not destroyed in Syria, it will pose a real threat to Iraq,” al-Masala news website quoted the commander as saying.
As regards an ongoing large-scale operation to retake the northern city of Mosul from Daesh terrorists, Ameri said neither the Hashid al-Shaabi forces nor the Kurdish Peshmerga fighters will enter the city as part of plans coordinated with the Iraqi prime minister.
Tens of thousands of Iraqi troops have been advancing on Mosul from the north, east and south after the launch on October 17 of the offensive to retake Daesh’s last stronghold in the country.
In the meantime, the Hashid al-Shaabi forces have begun a push toward the west of Mosul to recapture Tal Afar, a town west of the city, and cut off terrorist supply lines between Mosul and Syria.
Iraq has been engaged in the fight against the Daesh Takfiri militants since the summer of 2014.
