Lawmaker urges Iraqi militia arms 'under state control'

By Muayed al-Tarifi

BAGHDAD (AA) - Arms used by Iraqi militias to liberate Iraq’s northern Mosul city from Daesh must be under the state’s control, Iraqi Parliament Speaker Salim al-Jubouri said Wednesday.

Al-Jubouri said there was need to put the weapons of the Shia militia, Hashd al-Shaabi, and the Sunni militia, Al-Hashd al-Ashaeri, under Iraqi commander-in-chief's control.

Speaking in a tribal conference in Al Muqdadiyah city, located in the eastern Diyala province, al-Jubouri said: “All arms used for the liberation of the areas [in Mosul] from Daesh, should be under the state’s control.

“The parliament will discuss the issue of the Hashd al-Shaabi and Al-Hashd al-Ashaeri; however, they should be both under the flag and the name of the state, not under different names,” he said.

“All sacrifices are sacred, without it Daesh would not be defeated," he added.

Al-Jubouri also highlighted the need for "uniting efforts for the next phase of the return of displaced people, and the provision of basic and essential services to them."

On Oct. 18, the army, backed by the U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, launched a wide-ranging operation aimed at retaking Mosul, which Daesh overran in mid-2014, along with vast swathes of territory in northern and western Iraq.

Recent months have seen the Iraqi army and its allies retake much territory from the terrorist group, especially on Mosul’s outskirts and in Iraq’s western Anbar province.