Escalating Tension between Iran-Backed P.M.F. Groups and Peshmerga Forces in Sinjar

A commander of Kurdish peshmerga forces in the Iraqi town of Sinjar, Sarbast Lazkeen, has cautioned that any further expansion of Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (P.M.F.) toward the Syrian border and into Kurdish regions could prompt a direct military intervention by Turkey, Saudi Arabia or the United States. He said Iran-supported groups within the P.M.F. are currently about 40 miles away from the Syria border. Kurdish President Masoud Barazni has also reportedly ordered the peshmerga forces to stop P.M.F. units from entering into Kurdish cities and has called for an urgent meeting with military leaders in Sinjar. According to Rudaw, a Kurdish media outlet, P.M.F. forces have been expanding their operations into Kurdish regions over the past three days. But Ahmad al-Assadi, the P.M.F. spokesman released a statement, playing down the latest tension and claiming that leaders of P.M.F. and Kurdish peshmerga are cooperating closely.

Comment: Last Friday, the P.M.F. announced the launch of the second phase of the “Muhammad Rasulullah” operation in western Mosul of Iraq’s Nineveh Province. According to Fars News Agency, an outlet affiliated with the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.), P.M.F. forces killed 57 Islamic State militants and seized nine villages in al-Kairouan region. A P.M.F. statement said the new military operation’s aim is to seize Islamic State weapons caches in eastern al-Kairouan and shut terrorists’ communication lines. P.M.F. forces launched the Muhammad Rasullah operation on April 25 and have so far captured several regions from the Islamic State, including the historic city of al-Hadar in western Mosul.

As the Islamic State’s grip on power in Mosul is loosening, Iraqi political and armed factions as well as their regional backers have intensified their race for control and dominance in the region. In late March, a prominent Iran-backed Iraqi militia commander warned peshmerga forces loyal to the Kurdish Regional Government (K.R.G.) to withdraw from the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar and stressed that the P.M.F. will not allow any parts of Nineveh Province to be incorporated into the Iraqi Kurdistan Region. “Popular Mobilization Forces will spare no effort to confront the expansionist agenda of Masoud Barzani, the head of Iraqi Kurdistan Region, in Nineveh Province and other Iraqi areas,” Jawad al-Talibawi, a spokesman for the armed wing of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, said in an exclusive interview with Fars News Agency. Asaib Ahl al-Haq is one of powerful PMF Shiite militia groups that have close links with the I.R.G.C.

As Talibawi’s remarks indicate, the Sinjar region may prove to be a flashpoint for proxy conflicts once the Islamic State is defeated in Mosul and surrounding areas – particularly between factions supported by Iran and Turkey. Rival Kurdish groups – Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (K.D.P.) and Kurdistan Workers’ Party (P.K.K.) – are already engaged in a deadly conflict in Sinjar. The PKK has conducted attacks inside Turkey for a long time, and Ankara has made it clear that it will not tolerate the presence of P.K.K. close to its border and will intervene militarily if needed. Such a move will most likely place Turkey and its Iraqi allies in a direct confrontation with Iran-supported militia groups that have considerable influence in western Mosul. The inter-Kurdish clashes in Sinjar may also sour relations between Iran and the Kurdish Regional Government (K.R.G.), which intends to bring Sinjar under its own authority.

The P.M.F.’s leading role in military operations in western Mosul – particularly the prominent role of Iran-backed units within the P.M.F. – has caused a great deal of concern for Iraqi Sunnis and some regional Sunni states. It is feared that some sectarian groups within the P.M.F. might engage in revenge killing and rights abuses against Sunnis in western Mosul once the Islamic state is defeated.

The P.M.F. consists of militia forces largely from Shiite but also other Iraqi ethnic and religious groups. While some P.M.F. units are Iraqi nationalists and follow Iraq’s top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, many prominent groups within P.M.F. have close ties with Qassem Soleimani, the head of the I.R.G.C.’s elite Quds Force. What makes Sunnis particularly worried is that, despite P.M.F.’s diversity, it is the Iran-backed militia units within the P.M.F. – such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Kata’ib Hezbollah and the Badr Organization – that are playing the most prominent role in western Mosul. These groups have also launched a vicious propaganda campaign against U.S. troops advising Iraqi forces in Mosul and across Iraq.