“Today I attended the parade of our sons from the Hashd al-Shaabi,” Kadhimi tweeted after attending the event at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province, using the Arabic name of the PMF and mentioning he has also this year attended events for the army and the police.
"We emphasize that our work is done under the Iraqi flag and the protection of its soil and people is our duty,” he added. “Yes for Iraq… Yes for a strong Iraq."
The PMF were formed when a group of militias responded to a call-to-arms from Shiite cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to stand against the Islamic State group (ISIS) as it swept across northern Iraq in 2014.
Numerous PMF brigades marched in the parade, including Shiite, Christian, and Yazidi, according to images and video shared by the PMF-linked Sabreen News on Telegram. An image of Abu Madhi al-Muhandis, the PMF commander killed alongside Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020, was carried in the parade.
The equipment on display showed the extent of the PMF’s military strength, including drones, tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery, rocket launchers, and boats.
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Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji tweeted his congratulations to the PMF “for its glorious parade as it records in the pages of glory the most beautiful images of patriotism, professionalism and discipline."
"Greetings to every fighter in the Hashd [PMF], the army, the police, anti-terrorism forces and the Peshmerga,” he added.
The PMF have been officially incorporated into the Iraqi security forces, but militias within their ranks operate outside of Baghdad’s control and receive support from Iran. These groups are blamed for assassinations of anti-government activists, and rocket and drone attacks on American interests around the country.
Hours before the PMF parade, multiple explosive-laden drones hit northeast of Erbil, a few kilometres from the site of the under-construction US consulate. No group has immediately claimed responsibility.
