Iran’s top security official meets Hashd al-Sha’abi chief, stresses support for Iraq

Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Akbar Ahmadian reviewed regional developments with head of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, Falih al-Fayyadh.

News ID: 6038

Date: 18 February 2025 - 14:03

TABNAK, Feb 18: Tehran-Baghdad mutual interests and the common threats facing both countries were also among the issues conferred on during the meeting.

Describing the ties between the two countries as “very close” and “brotherly”, Ahmadian reaffirmed Iran’s comprehensive support for Iraq.

Iraq's Hashd al-Sh’abai, played a major role in the liberation of Daesh-held areas in the country.

The remnants of Daesh, which was also defeated by the Damascus government and its allies in Syria in late 2019, still conduct sporadic terrorist attacks in both neighboring Arab countries.

Iraq has warned of Daesh resurgence after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in December, and stressed its readiness to confront any hostile plot.

“We will spare no effort to deter anyone who dares” violate Iraq’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, al-Fayyadh said on December 13.

Iraqi al-Maalomeh news agency, citing informed sources speaking on condition of anonymity, reported last month that Daesh militants are active in about a dozen regions in Syria.

The sources continued that approximately half of the weapons used by Daesh terrorists are made in the US, suggesting that the extremists are secretly being armed.

They also asserted that Daesh terrorists are moving freely in large swathes of Syria, and American occupation forces are not taking any action to target them.

After armed groups, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militants, captured the Syrian capital, which led to the fall of Assad’s government on December 8, Israel swiftly moved in and seized the so-called buffer zone separating the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from the Syrian land.

Israeli troops have advanced deeper into Syria, with the regime's warplanes conducting hundreds of aerial assaults on the country.