Iraqi PMU Forces Repel Attacks by Unknown Assailants in Basra


Iraqi PMU Forces Repel Attacks by Unknown Assailants in Basra

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Inflicting multiple casualties on the attackers, the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), or Hashd al-Sha’abi forces, stopped a string of attacks by unidentified assailants on their bases in the oil-rich southern province of Basra.

By Sajjad Yarmohammadi: According to Sabereen News, a PMU-affiliated Telegram news channel with the name Hashd al-Sha'abi in Arabic, PMU forces were able to stop the attacks on Tuesday morning, forcing the attackers to flee.

The report added that there had been twelve casualties among the attackers.

The news source had earlier said that a string of explosions had torn through PMU bases, setting off fights between the forces and as-yet-unidentified gunmen who were ferociously attempting to storm the complex.

At least eight Katyusha rockets were reported to have touched down early on Tuesday in Basra close to the Presidential Palace complex.

Four of the projectiles, according to the report, were directed at the al-Tannumah neighborhood.

The attacks were not immediately attributed to anyone.

Hashd al-Sha'abi is an umbrella organization supported by the Iraqi government made up of about 40 factions of volunteer counter-terrorism forces, the majority of which are Shiite and Sunni Muslims, as well as Christians, and Kurds.

Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the top Shiite cleric in Iraq, issued a fatwa on June 15, 2014, urging all Iraqis to work with the military to fight the Daesh (ISIL or ISIS) Takfiri terrorist group.

The historic fatwa led to the formation of Hashd al-Sha’abi, which rushed to the aid of the army and took the lead in many of the successful anti-terror operations, which ultimately led to the collapse of Daesh’s territorial rule and liberation of the entire Iraqi land in December 2017.

Hashd al-Sha’abi gained its official recognition from the Iraqi parliament in November 2016 and became a legal part of the Iraqi armed forces after Daesh was vanquished.

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