Hashd al-Shaabi Delegation Visits Syria

The Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper quoted a source in Hasha al-Shaabi as saying that Iraqi Volunteer Forces Spokesman Ahmad al-Assadi and Mashan al-Jabouri, another leader of the popular group, visited Syria last week.

Jabouri confirmed the visit on his Facebook page, and wrote, “We have come to Damascus to emphasize that we have no other way, but victory.”

According to al-Akhbar, the Turkish and Saudi threats of launching ground assault against Syria, ways to strengthen campaign on terrorism, and US pressures on Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to use Iraqi soil as a launch-pad for starting special operations in Syria were discussed during the meeting between the Hashd al-Shaabi leaders and Syrian officials whose names were not revealed.

The Iraqi volunteer forces (Hashd al-Shaabi) in a statement on Saturday warned Saudi Arabia not to even think about dispatching military forces to Iraq.

The warning came after some Arab media outlets reported that Saudi Arabia and its allies were planning to conduct a joint military maneuver near Iraq’s Western borders.

“We will turn Iraq into a graveyard for Saudi forces if they dare to attack Iraq,” the Arabic-language media outlets quoted Iraqi Volunteer Forces Spokesman Ahmad al-Assadi as saying.

“We warn Saudi Arabia and any other country that dreams of making an aggression against Iraq that if they get near the Iraqi soil, the volunteer forces will stand up to them,” the statement concluded.