Iraqi army, non-local PMUs at cross-purposes in western Anbar
Non-local Popular Mobilization Units seem to be quietly gaining influence on Iraq’s border with Syria against a backdrop of attacks on local facilities now under the control of the Iraqi army.
KARBALA, Iraq — Two recent attacks have killed four members of the Iraqi army at or near the Akkas gas field near the Iraqi border town of Qaim.
An Oct. 11 attack on the gas field allegedly conducted by the Islamic State (IS) resulted in the death of at least two Iraqi army officers. Akkas was retaken from IS almost a year ago. On Oct. 16, a freshly planted IED on a road near the gas field killed one more officer and a soldier and injured two others while Al-Monitor was in Qaim.
The Akkas gas field is one of the largest in Iraq. After the field was retaken from IS, it was placed under the control of a Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) militia, Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades). Recently, however, it was transferred to Iraqi army control.
The western Anbar commander for the PMUs, Qassim Musleh, told Al-Monitor in an interview in his office in the Karbala shrine complex Oct. 11, “This [attack] only happened because they took it away from us and gave it to the army, which is under the Americans.’’
