Iraqi popular fighters essential for full liberation of Mosul: Analyst

Press TV has conducted an interview with Sabah Jawad, director of the Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation from London, to discuss recent advances by the Iraqi military in Mosul to retake the country’s second largest city from the Takfiri Daesh terrorists.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.                   

Press TV: First of all, the attack on Mosul to liberate it has been long in the planning phase. Now that we are slowly creeping up to that actual operation, how do you analyze the strategy that has been employed over here?

Jawad: The battle for Nineveh and Mosul should have happened much earlier actually. There are a lot of forces in Iraq and mainly the Popular Mobilization Forces; they were very eager to continue the momentum of their victories in Anbar province and Salahuddin province, and elsewhere in Iraq to continue the battle [and] to take it to the heartland of Daesh in Mosul and Nineveh. However, the Americans actually have been  using the issue of the occupation of Mosul to plant their own agents in Iraq and to send troops in Iraq which have nothing to do with the battle against terrorism in Iraq. They just wanted to return to Iraq using the pretext of ISIS occupation of Mosul. We do not know actually this is a new chapter; we do not know even so it is a very welcome step actually. It is better late than never this battle against terrorism in Nineveh province, but we do not know what the Americans full plans are because they, in the past two years, have been undermining the Popular Mobilization Forces, they have been battling against them, and even bombarding them now… .So the participation of these forces is vital because these are the forces that [are] motivated to defeat Daesh you know in Nineveh, Mosul and Fallujah as well. So will they be allowed to fully participate in the liberation of Mosul or not? That is a big question. So also the Americans want something out of it as well. They want to control the ground with their allies, [they want to] control the areas of Nineveh and Mosul as well for their plan actually, for the division of Iraq because as we are well aware America wants to divide Iraq in two or three provinces to [be] controlled by different groups. They even proposed actually to have three military armies in Iraq to basically compete against each other and control different areas.

Press TV: Indeed. And Mr. Jawad let me just jump in there. Looking at it from another perspective, there are many who say that Iraq will not be able to fully and completely liberate itself from Daesh unless these terrorists are cracked down upon in neighboring Syria as well. Do you see it that way too?

Jawad: Yes, absolutely. You know this is one battle actually. Battle against terrorism stretches from Syria to Iraq, to Lebanon, to Yemen and in other parts of the Middle East and in the world now. There is an international war of terrorism taking place and these terrorist forces, being supported, flourished and financed by well-known regimes and movements in the Arab world and the Islamic world and backed by Western powers as well. Western powers want to utilize; they want us to believe actually they are fighting terrorism. Well, in the first place we know the history how these forces were created. You know they supported these terrorists and they financed them and they still do. You know the regimes in the Arab world, namely Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other entities in the [Persian] Gulf; they still back these terrorist groups.

So you know the fight against terrorism is a very important one for us as we are the people who are suffering directly from these atrocities committed on a daily basis in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen as well. Let’s not forget Yemen as well. 

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