PMF deputy leader claims US supports Islamic State

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – The deputy commander of Hashd al-Shaabi on Friday accused the US of supporting the Islamic State (IS) extremists in Iraq.

Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the Deputy Commander of the Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in a press conference said that they have documents and photos that prove the US supports the IS extremists.

Muhandis, who is also the leader of Katayib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shia militia faction within the PMF, stated that their evidence clearly shows "the US planes landing in the IS-controlled territories," but he did not clarify which area.

Muhandis denied the presence of the Hashd al-Shaabi forces in Syria but said that some Iraqis have been fighting alongside the Syrian government forces since the beginning of the civil war without whom the Syrian regime would have fallen.

Hashd al-Shaabi forces have not advanced into the Syrian soil, stating that their forces deal with IS positions in Syria with artillery shelling only.

Last week, Sayyid al-Shuhada, a faction within the Hashd al-Shaabi, claimed an alleged US airstrike targeted their position on the Iraqi-Syrian border, killing and wounding a large number of their fighters.

“We guarantee the attack will not go unpunished, and we call upon all Islamic resistance units in Iraq to consider an appropriate response to such a criminal act,” the militia group said in a statement.

In a statement on August 9, the US Embassy in Baghdad warned its employees against traveling outside Baghdad’s International Zone (IZ), also known as the Green Zone, and the US Consulate in Basrah due to security concerns.

Editing by Ava Homa