They are now flooding to join Sunni tribal militias also under the Hashid, security officials and militia leaders say. Two are deployed west of Mosul, and another two near the Syrian border, where Shi’ite fighters have played a crucial role in cutting off Islamic State supply lines.īefore the call-up, they had worked as farmers in the southern Kut region, more than 500 km (300 miles) away.Īs well as Shi’ites from the south, young men from around Mosul - where Sunni Muslims are in the majority - are also keen to fight. They joined the Hashid Shaabi, or Popular Mobilisation Forces, a state-run umbrella that includes Shi’ite militias. “The others all joined after the fatwa,” he said. On another Mosul front line, Counter-Terrorism Service commando Hamza Kadhem said that before Islamic State arrived, he was the only one of five brothers to have picked up a gun. Iraq’s top Shi’ite cleric issued a fatwa in 2014, calling on all men able to carry arms to fight Islamic State, which is known in Arabic by its opponents as Daesh. This has raised fears of new outbreaks of violence once the caliphate has crumbled. (Full Story)īut the fight has further militarised Iraqi society, pushing young men into the armed forces and, increasingly, sectarian and tribal militias. The U.S.-backed Iraqi forces are now set to drive the group from its stronghold of Mosul, taken in 2014 when the jihadists seized large areas of Iraq and Syria, proclaiming a caliphate. The family from southern Iraq - far from Mosul which lies near the country’s northern border - is just one of many where entire sets of brothers have taken up arms against Islamic State out of revenge, duty or just to earn money. “They said Iraq was falling apart, and they wanted to protect it,” he said.
But his brothers still answered the call to arms. “Mum wasn’t happy,” said Jassem, not giving his full name because he works in intelligence. With a further brother already with the Counter-Terrorism Service, that meant their mother had all four of her surviving sons at war. They had also drilled holes in his hands and cut fingers off,” 31-year-old Jassem told Reuters on the front line in Mosul as Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State in the city.Īfter the murder, Jassem’s youngest brother signed up with the army and another joined a Shi’ite paramilitary group.
“We were able to identify my dad’s body by the tattoo on his arm. Iraqi fighters from Hashid Shaabi take part in a training at Makhmur camp in Iraq December 11, 2016.
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