Hashd al-Shaabi militia shells Peshmerga positions near Shingal
“In December of last year alone, our positions were targeted four times. The shelling wounded one Peshmerga fighter."
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – The Shia militia Hashd al-Shaabi shelled Peshmerga positions near Shingal (Sinjar) on early hours of Thursday morning, the Ministry of Peshmerga spokesperson told Kurdistan24.
Halgurd Hikmat warned that if such incidents repeat, Peshmerga forces would respond harshly.
A Hashd al-Shaabi unit led by Wa’ad Mahmood Qadu, commander of the 30th Brigade, attacked Peshmerga positions in Sino area near Shingal, with rockets and mortar fire, Hikmat added.
He believes the recent attacks were not ordered by the main commanders of the Hashd al-Shaabi.
However, he said, it is the responsibility of Baghdad to prevent the sub-units within the militia from attacking others.
On November 26, 2016, the Iraqi parliament approved a bill legalizing the Hashd al-Shaabi Shia militias.
Sarbast Lezgin, a Peshmerga commander based in the vicinity of Shingal told Kurdistan24 this was not the first time the above-mentioned group within the Hashd al-Shaabi attacked the Peshmerga forces.
“In December of last year alone, our positions were targeted four times. The shelling wounded one Peshmerga fighter,” Lezgins said.
He emphasized the attacks had not negatively affected the cooperation between the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi army, especially during the operation to liberate Mosul.
“But there are loosely supervised groups within Hashd al-Shaabi who wish to create tension,” he concluded.
According to Lezgin, the Shia militia has 30 units, each led by a different commander.
Hashd al-Shaabi was shaped by the former Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after a fatwa by Ali al-Sistani, an Iranian cleric in Iraq.
The fatwa came following the retreat of the Iraqi army in Mosul and most Sunni-populated areas in June 2014 when the Islamic State (IS) attacked.
The spokesperson of the Kurdistan Regional Presidency previously in a statement had said that, “Those who are a threat to Kurdistan will not have a better fate than IS extremists… They will not be allowed to slaughter people in Kurdistan based on their identity and faith.”
Editing by Ava Homa