After The Battle To Retake Mosul Has been Completed, Will Iraq’s Shiite Militias Head Into Syria?

Members of the Shi'ite Badr Organization fighters riding in a military vehicle during a battle with Islamic State militants west of Mosul, Iraq, on Nov. 20. PHOTO: KHALID AL-MOUSILY/REUTERS

Wall Street Journal: After Mosul, Will Iraq’s Shiite Militias Head to Syria Next?

Will the militias stop at the border--or cross the line and risk new sectarian strife?

Now that the collapse of Islamic State is within sight in Iraq, a lot rides on whether the Iraqi Shiite militias taking part in that campaign will stop at the international border or will cross into Syria in coming months and open a new phase of that country’s war.

The Hashed al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces, which unite several of Iraq’s powerful Shiite militias, were established to combat Islamic State in mid-2014. At the time, the regular Iraqi army collapsed as the extremist group seized the country’s second-largest city of Mosul and advanced all the way to the outskirts of Baghdad, the capital.

While technically under the control of the central government in Baghdad, most of these militias have been trained and armed by Iran and don’t hide their close links with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. On their tanks and armored vehicles, they often fly banners with portraits of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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WNU Editor: Sending in tens of thousands of Shiite militia fighters into Syria will all but guarantee a sectarian war not only in Syria .... but an intensification of the Sunni - Shiite conflict throughout the Middle East. But .... I am willing to bet money that Iran does not care, and in their view it is in their national security interest to send in their militia army into Syria. This is probably the reason why Iran has not signed up on today's ceasefire announcement by Russian and Turkish leaders of a ceasefire in Syria (this is my next post). The Iranians do not want a ceasefire or negotiated settlement .... they want a military victory.