BAGHDAD: Influential Iraqi Shiite leader Moqtada Al-Sadr has called on the Baghdad government to dismantle the paramilitary Hashed Al-Shaabi umbrella organization dominated by Iran-backed Shiite militias.
Al-Sadr was speaking to thousands of supporters in Baghdad.
In a speech broadcast on huge screens, Sadr urged Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi to dismantle Hashed and “integrate into the army the disciplined members” of the paramilitary force, an AFP reporter said.
Al-Sadr also called on the authorities to “seize the arsenal of all armed groups.”
The Hashed Al-Shaabi is nominally under Abadi’s command, but some of its components have for years been sending fighters to support Damascus in its six-year-old conflict against various rebel factions.
The paramilitary force took part in the battle to retake Iraq’s second city Mosul from Daesh, and could join future operations aimed at routing the terrorists from areas of the country they still hold.
Daesh still controls swathes of western Iraq, including much of the desert province of Anbar. Rival forces, which largely cooperated against the terrorists in Mosul, are expected to compete for a share of the spoils.
Al-Sadr led a militia that fought against the US occupation of Iraq.
He is now seen as a nationalist who has repeatedly called for protests against corruption in the Iraqi government, and his supporters have staged huge protests in Baghdad calling for electoral reform.
On Thursday, Al-Sadr issued a new call for protests in Baghdad and other cities to denounce “corrupt politicians” and demand reforms.