BAGHDAD — The Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which the Iraqi parliament voted to fully legalize Nov. 26, are now seeking to control the Iraqi-Syrian border stretching from the city of Qaim in Anbar province, in western Iraq, all the way to Rabia, west of Mosul.

Mohammed al-Basri, a PMU leader, was quoted in the Iranian Fars News Agency on Dec. 18 as saying, “The PMU’s main goal is to cut supply routes in the western Mosul area and secure the border with Syria.”

Abboud al-Issawi, a member of parliament for the State of Law Coalition, said in a media statement Oct. 17, “The PMU is an official security institution and is capable of maintaining the Iraqi border and there is no harm in cooperation with the rest of the security services [in the country] to this end.”

Issawi’s statements were general, whereas the PMU emphasized that it wants to maintain Iraq’s border with Syria, in particular. This raises several questions. Is this demand part of the plan to secure the route Iran wants to establish from its border with Iraq all the way to the Syrian-Iraqi border?