Iraq’s Shiite forces claim victory over IS

Ali Hashem

Mar 16, 2015

Shi'ite fighters from Hashid Shaabi forces launch a rocket during clashes with Islamic State militants on the front line at the Shi'ite Turkman village of Bashir, 20km south of Kirkuk, March 14, 2015. Kurdish peshmerga forces, backed by Shi'ite militia fighters, have been attacking Islamic State-held towns and villages south and west of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, peshmerga sources said. REUTERS/Ako Rasheed (IRAQ - Tags: CIVIL UNREST CONFLICT POLITICS MILITARY) - RTR4TCBR — Shiite fighters launch a rocket during clashes with Islamic State militants on the front line at the Shiite Turkmen village of Bashir, 20 kilometers (13 miles) south of Kirkuk, March 14, 2015. — REUTERS/Ako Rasheed

عربي

In Iraq, there are dozens of militant groups fighting under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces, which is loyal to the central government in Baghdad, fighting the Islamic State (IS), which occupies large parts of the country.

Hezbollah al-Nujaba is one of these groups. In 2006, it fought US forces during Iraq’s occupation under the name of Asaib Ahlul Haq (League of the Righteous), before the group changed its name in 2012. The group admits that it is ideologically and organizationally associated with Iran and that it is currently fighting in Syria.

Al-Monitor interviewed the group’s secretary-general, Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi.

The text of the interview follows:

Iraq’s Shiite forces claim victory over IS

Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi, the leader of Hezbollah al-Nujaba, a major Iraqi Shiite resistance movement fighting IS, tells Al-Monitor in an exclusive interview that his group will target US planes if they get near his forces.

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