Iraqi Commander: US Plots to Assassinate Hashd al-Shaabi Leaders

“Hashd al-Shaabi has changed all US plans and has changed all previous equations. Iraq will no more go under disintegration and this has angered Washington,” Jabbar al-Amouri was quoted as saying by the Arabic-language al-Alam news channel on Wednesday.

“The US, supported by certain Persian Gulf littoral states financially and politically, is mulling plots to assassinate leaders of the Iraqi popular forces, though” he warned.

Amouri also warned that Iraq won’t be able to restore calm and tranquility as long as the US stays in the country.

In relevant remarks in October, Spokesman of Hashd al-Shaabi Ahmad al-Assadi warned that the US enlistment of Hashd al-Shaabi deputy chief commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis as a terrorist is a direct threat to his life and Washington should account for it.

“We take Washington responsible for any possible aggression and attack against Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,” al-Assadi told the Arabic-language al-Mayadeen news channel.

He also called on the Iraqi foreign ministry to show reaction to the US threat against Hashd al-Shaabi’s deputy chief commander.

His remarks came after US State Department Spokeswoman Heather Nauert called al-Muhandis as “a terrorist”.

In response, Iraq’s foreign ministry declared the Hashd al-Shaabi an “inseparable” part of the national forces, and rejected the United States’ labeling its deputy commander a terrorist.

The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), under the deputy command of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, are a legal Iraqi force that has fought bravely against terrorism in Iraq, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Friday.

As such, the ministry rejected US comments describing al-Muhandis as a terrorist, and called o