Four Iraqi militia factions loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani have withdrawn from the government-run Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and will be forming a new umbrella organization directly tied to Sistani.
The PMF incorporates Shi’ite militias, and was formed at Sistani’s behest to provide help for the ISIS War. Since then, there has been some pushback at the militias’ power as part of the military. The government has also tried to sideline them to reduce their political power ahead of the June election.
The existing PMF includes a number of politically influential militias, mostly aligned to parties that have support from Iran. This is part of why the US has tended to oppose the militias as Iranian proxies, though it is oversimplifying things to claim these groups are directly run from Iran.
The new group will be calling itself the Mobilization of Holy Shrines, and will be commanded, at least in part, by religious authorities in Najaf. This group commands about 15,000 fighters now.
Being connected to Sistani makes these groups virtually untouchable for the government, as the Grand Ayatollah is hugely influential with the Shi’ite majority. It’s not clear if they plan anything in particular, or if they are just forming an alternate group because this allows them to ignore moves on the PMF.
This is how you get to create Iranian “terrorists” , with weapons of mass destruction. MHS, is the new “brand” that America will need to defend it self against. If I was Iran, i would actually advise agains this, if Iran cannot see the Mexican standoff that this created then they fell right into the trap. It’s not Iran that’s going to break, it’s these rouge “Iran” backed militias that America will use as the invitation to bomb the living hell out of Iran.
Gen Lloyd, perfectly placed. It’s already designed.