The Hashd al-Sha’abi in Iraq or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) are holding conferences and ceremonies to honor their martyrs as well as military parades to mark the eighth anniversary of the military force’s founding.

The largest military parade to date this year has been held in the province of Diyala with the presence of Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Khadhimi and PMU chairman Falih al-Fayadh as well as other high-ranking security officials.

On display at the parade was a number of impressive and advanced indigenously made military equipment. They included a new drone system. 

The idea of a new anti-terror organization was first floating around among the former government of Nouri al-Maliki. The former Prime Minister has pointed out in several interviews that he feared Daesh terrorists crossing into Iraq from neighboring Syria, killing border guards, and amassing in the Western Anbar province desert, would soon expand their territorial gain in the country.

The second issue worrying the former government was the U.S.-trained Iraqi army would not be capable of confronting the territorial expansion of the terrorist group.

The third matter of concern was that Washington was refusing to deliver weapons in particular missiles that Baghdad had paid for and desperately needed to take out the terrorists before they advanced.

However, the Obama White House egged on by Congress, set conditions on the delivery of the weapons. One of these conditions was that Maliki step down. Washington wasn’t fond of the former Premier who refused to extend an agreement that would have allowed U.S. troops to remain on Iraqi soil beyond 2011.

Many experts say Washington’s delay of handing over the weapons and setting conditions and pressure on the former PM was a deliberate plan by the Pentagon to use the presence of Daesh as a pretext to return its troops to the Arab country, which American troops eventually did and remain in Iraq until today despite deep resentment against their presence.

As Maliki was forced to cede power in 2014, Daesh took control of many Iraqi regions including entire cities and provinces where the U.S.-trained Iraqi army collapsed. 

But the idea of forming an anti-terror force was given a huge boost in the form of a Fatwa (Islamic ruling) by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the highest religious authority in the country. 

Ayatollah al-Sistani’s representative read out the Fatwa from the holy city of Karbala, which called on Iraqi men - capable of carrying arms - to volunteer in the fight against Daesh.

The Fatwa for Jihad in Islam can only
be used when a nation and people are under attack. There are strict laws on the rules of Jihad for example it’s forbidden to cut a tree, unlike Daesh terrorists who decapitated their prisoners of war.

Over the next few days and weeks, an estimated three million people registered to volunteer. Another important man came onto the scene went by the name of Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis. 

The experienced and veteran Iraqi commander fought the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and played a crucial role in putting together the 40 odd units of what would soon become the Hashd al-Sha’abi in Iraq or Popular Mobilization Units.

Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis had the charisma, and leadership skills and
has been credited with making the PMU a reflection of Iraqi society. 

With the help of other high-ranking Iraqi military officials, al-Muhandis ensured the new force would include a Christian brigade, and Sunni brigades and coordinate the battle against Daesh shoulder to shoulder with Kurdish Peshmerga forces. 

The PMU now had the men it required and the system was in place, but one thing was missing; training and weapons. This is where Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani who led the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and a team of Iranian military advisers entered the scene.

They helped arm the new volunteers and they helped train them. Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis said “history cannot be written if this page is ripped out: during Iraq’s dark hour when Daesh advanced to the outskirts of Baghdad, on the third day [of the PMU’s battle with Daesh], we did not have a single bullet left. Then came to a blessed, courageous, and speedy presence, in the first hours during this crisis, of the dear brother and commander, Qassem Soleimani and his brothers.”

Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis adds that they observed the front lines and “opened their weapons depots and provided us [military assistance] immediately, the military aid came in cars and then in planes. This generosity and courage was just in time.”

“Here the Islamic Republic of Iran stepped forward and with this assistance, we were able to emerge victorious against Daesh,” he added.

What’s lost on my Western commentators is that the Takfiri  Daesh ideology influenced many deadly terrorist attacks in Western countries. Although the vast majority of the terror group victims were Muslims, a lot of people in Western European Countries suffered also. 

The brave efforts of commanders like Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani helped end Daesh’s rule which brought an end to further terror attacks in the West.

The Secretary General of the Lebanese Resistance Movement, Hezbollah, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah says “all of [Qassem Soleimani’s] life was focused on Iraq and defeating Daesh there.”

While Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the PMU helped end Daesh in Iraq; Lieutenant General Soleimani also played a major role in defeating Daesh in Syria. Many videos have appeared that show his bravery on the frontline of battles against the terror group in both countries. 

The question that needs to be answered is why did the U.S. under the direct order of former President Donald Trump assassinate the two war heroes with drone strikes in an act of American state-sponsored terrorism in the vicinity of Baghdad International Airport on January 3rd, 2020 at 01:20? 

Nevertheless, the assassination has not brought Daesh back, the PMU in Iraq has gone from strength to strength in tribute to the two slain anti-terror icons. The force now has an air brigade and more recently a navy brigade in addition to its ground forces.

Iraq’s parliament has endorsed a bill that puts the PMU in the same category as all other Iraqi armed forces. That means the force answers to the commander in chief of the Iraqi armed forces, the country’s Prime Minister. They receive their paychecks and pension from Baghdad and also what is interesting is that there are more Sunni and Christian members in the PMU than there are in the regular Iraqi army. 

Yet the United States still refers to the anti-terror force as Shia militias, and U.S. forces, who no longer have the mandate to stay in Iraq, after parliament passed a bill for their expulsion following the assassination of Abu Mehdi al-Muhandis and Qassem Soleimani, have even bombed PMU members on several occasions. 

The PMU is widely remembered for coming to Iraq’s rescue during its dark hour and with the blood of many martyrs helped save the country, region, and world from Daesh terrorism. 

The force is also remembered for liberating cities from Daesh such as Tikrit in the north and leaving the city’s homes and streets intact with minimal casualties to civilians. The PMU engaged in street battles.

That is the complete opposite of U.S. forces, whose warplanes bombed cities damaged the infrastructure, killed civilians, and led to hundreds of thousands of internally displaced. Drone footage showing the aftermath of Mosul after American fighter jets carpet bombed the city looks like the apocalypse.