Iran
A member of the Iraqi security forces intervenes as demonstrators burn down the KDP office in Baghdad on October 17, 2020. Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The United States has condemned the storming of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Baghdad office by supporters of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi) on Saturday morning, saying political parties should not be threatened by “militias and thugs.”
“The United States strongly condemns the attack on the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s branch office in Baghdad by Iran-backed elements of the Popular Mobilization Forces. The ability to speak freely and critically is a vital component of any democracy, and political parties should be able to engage in robust debate without threat from militias and thugs,” read a Saturday statement attributed to State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus.
“The destabilizing activities of Iran-backed militias operating outside of Government of Iraq control are inflaming ethnic and sectarian tensions and undermining democracy,” it added, calling on “all parties to behave responsibly during this critical period.”
PMF supporters protested on Saturday morning in front of the offices of the KDP, the Kurdistan Region’s ruling party, following critical comments by senior KDP official Hoshyar Zebari about the militia network.
Protesters stepped on photographs of KDP leader Masoud Barzani and set fire to a Kurdistan Region flag. Both Kurdish and Iraqi officials condemned the incident, with Kurdistan Region President Nechirvan describing the incident as an "attack on coexistence."
“Attacking the office of a political party that was one of the main forces that caused the ending of dictatorship in Iraq means attacking on the joint struggle of Kurds and Iraqi revolutionary forces to end oppression and dictatorship,” Barzani said in a Saturday statement.
The PMF is a paramilitary network and was established in 2014 following a following a fatwa, or religious call to action, from Iraq’s highest Shiite authority Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, in response to the Islamic State (ISIS) insurgency.
Iran-backed PMF factions have repeatedly targeted Baghdad’s Green Zone, home to foreign diplomatic missions, as well as Iraqi military bases hosting US-led coalition troops. Erbil International Airport was also targeted by airstrikes in September and January.
Tensions between Iran-backed groups and the US peaked in January after the US assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and PMF deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, prompting a flurry of attacks on bases hosting coalition troops across Iraq.
The United States has hit out at the PMF, previously warning it would withdraw all troops and close its Baghdad embassy, stormed by PMF supporters in December 2019, if Iran-backed militias could not be reigned in by Baghdad.
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