Hadi al-Amiri, the leader of the Popular Mobilization Force, told The Telegraph Tuesday that even though they are not taking an immediate offensive, the fall of Ramadi will not change their strategy in defeating the Islamic State.
The group has proven a useful military resource for the Iraqi government, but simultaneously poses risks to United States policy, various sects of Islamic religious groups, and the Iraqi government itself.
The Popular Mobilization Federation (PMF or PMU) created in June 2014 is a paramilitary group under the Iraq’s Ministry of the Interior. However, the leadership and internal control of the operation does not belong to Iraq. The Iranian government backs the majority of the groups that compose the PMF.
"The command of the PMUs formally goes to the prime minister of Iraq, but the real operational command and control is a bit more complicated," Michael Knights, a Washington Institute of Near East Policy Laffer fellow, said in a panel Wednesday.
Knights opened the forum by explaining the rise of the PMF and the group’s varying nationalistic ties.
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Iraqi religious leader Ayatollah Sistani are at the helm of the PMF and are joined in leadership by American-targeted terrorist Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and former Iranian-backed Special Groups leader Qais Khazali.
In the absence of Iraqi military and federal police forces, "the PMUs can undertake offensive operations," Knights said. "They are methodical about clearing operations; they use quite rough tactics to say the least. When they clear a place it tends to stay clear."
Knights said the Iraqi movement could gain control of the PMUs and establish some form of a National Guard system to utilize them as an effective guided force.
Phillip Smyth, a Middle East researcher at the University of Maryland, echoed the complicated control system among PMUs that fuels concerns about dueling loyalties.
"They are using increased Sistani imagery,"Smyth said, pointing to images of the fighters. "Logically, one would think, ‘Oh, they’re all Sistanists!’ Here’s where the problem comes in. The Iranians like to co-opt the images and personalities of Shia clerics."This adds to the confusion of their loyalty to either Iraq or Iran or either of the major Islamic sects.
Ahmed Ali, an Iraq analyst and visiting senior fellow at the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, said this raises concerns that supporting PMUs could run counter to U.S. interests even as they combat the Islamic State.
"You do have to look at this from differing perspectives, there are elements on the ground to consider,"Ali said. "It’s clear this group has ambitions which are not good for U.S. or Iraqi policy. Are the PMUs unified? They are not. The reality is PMUs exist—they have become part of Iraqi life."
While Ali called on the responsibility of the Iraqi prime minister to manage these groups, Knights advocated for additional U.S. response so Iraq would not have to rely on PMFs.
"There is a lot of hate between the U.S. and these Iranian-backed groups," Knights said.
"There is a lot of hate, but there is also a lot of need right now. For the most part, if we give support, that support will be soaked up like a sponge. We have had the capabilities to end all of this stuff since 2011. The shortfall is our intent, we could do it tomorrow if we wanted to do it and it would be highly effective."