ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iran has plotted to replace the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq with its allied Shiite militia Hashd al-Shaabi to strengthen its Shiite hegemony over the neighboring country, a Sunni tribal leader warned on Saturday.
“Iran’s conspiracy is that it wants to control Iraq by replacing Daesh [ISIS] with the Hashd al-Shaabi,” Sheikh Yahya Sinbul, head of the Sunni Naaim tribe and chief of the Iraqi tribes, told Rudaw TV.
He believes that Tehran’s conspiracy is “not secret since the Hashd al-Shaabi and its leaders are openly following Qasem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Quds Forces.”
Soleimani has been seen as Iran’s top military man in both Iraq and Syria, with photos and video footage showing him leading the fight against ISIS in both countries.
He was reportedly dispatched to Iraq in 2014, where he successfully led Shiite militia groups against ISIS in Diyala and Tikrit and reclaimed both provinces for the Iraqi government. He said he would be back to Iraq to prepare the Shiite militia for the battle for Mosul.
Sinbul pointed out that the Iranian program in Iraq has “forced the Sunni youth to stay out of the army and security forces in confronting Daesh and other terrorist organizations.”
He also accused some Sunni leaders of implementing Tehran’s agenda in Iraq.
“Sunni leaders in Iraq’s political arena are dealing with Iran to implement its agenda. They are mostly from the Daawa party including the Parliament Speaker Salim Jabouri who plotted with Nouri Maliki to expel Hoshyar Zebari,” he claimed, referring to the Iraqi finance minister who was ousted by the parliament in a controversial vote of non-confidence last week.
Sinbul also called out Sunni states in the Middle East who, he said, have not come to the aid of Iraq’s Sunni population in the face of Iran’s growing influence.
"Sunni Arabs are disintegrating and disappearing in Iraq and so far no Arabic Sunni state has supported them while they always say that they back the Iraqi government," he said.
Regional countries have been accused of stoking sectarian tensions in multi-ethnic Iraq, something an influential Shiite militia leader warned will come to a “bloody outcome."
"Many sides are working to divide Iraq into three states, Shiite, Sunni and a Kurdish state which we reject categorically since Iraq's partition will inevitably be followed by a bloody outcome,” said Hadi Ameri, a former minister and commander of the Shiite Hashad al-Shaabi militia.
Speaking on Friday Ameri, warned that conditions in Iraq would not allow for what he called "the three-state solution" to take place and reiterated strong support for a "united country."
Iran and Saudi Arabia are financially supporting opposing militia groups in the country. And Turkey is openly funding a Sunni militia in northern Iraq, which it says are being trained to fight against ISIS militants in Mosul.
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