Iraq Removes Paramilitary Commanders After Deadly Clash With Police

BAGHDAD:  Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has dismissed senior commanders in a powerful paramilitary force and ordered legal action against those involved in a deadly raid on a government facility last month.

The move follows a government investigation into the July 27 incident in Baghdad’s Karkh district, where gunmen from the Kataib Hezbollah militia clashed with federal police at the agricultural directorate. Three people were killed in the confrontation, which erupted after the dismissal of the directorate’s former head.

According to government spokesperson Sabah Al-Numan, the probe found that the ousted director, accused of corruption, had summoned Kataib Hezbollah fighters from the 45th and 46th Brigades of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to storm the facility.

Al-Sudani, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces, approved recommendations to remove the commanders of both brigades, refer all participants in the attack to the judiciary, and investigate leadership failings within the PMF command. The report also pointed to structural weaknesses in the PMF, noting that some factions operate outside the official chain of command.

Formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group, the PMF is a coalition of mostly Shiite, Iran-backed militias formally integrated into Iraq’s military in 2016 but still largely autonomous. Kataib Hezbollah, one of its most powerful factions, has been designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

The incident highlights ongoing tensions between the Iraqi state and elements of the PMF, as well as Iraq’s delicate balancing act between Washington and Tehran. A draft law currently before parliament seeks to formalize the PMF’s relationship with the military a proposal welcomed by Al-Sudani but opposed by the US.

“Security agencies must operate under laws and be subject to them and be held accountable,” Al-Sudani told the Associated Press last month.