ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Security in Iraq’s Nineveh province will be jointly administered between the Hashd al-Shaabi, Iraqi army, and local police, an Iraqi official announced on Tuesday.
Falih Fayaz, National Security Adviser and head of the Hashd al-Shaabi Council, also known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), said during a press conference that Iraqi security forces, as well as the PMF’s 30th brigade, would administer the security of Mosul.
Fayaz said the Shia militias 30th division would “keep checkpoints inside the Nineveh Plains, except for the Kokjali checkpoint which would be jointly controlled between the Iraqi army and the PMF.”
The announcement came after a delegation consisting of top Iraqi security officials arrived in Mosul on Tuesday after protesters blocked main roads in the area in opposition to Iraqi Prime Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi’s decision to remove the Hashd al-Shaabi division 30 from the area and hand the security over to Iraqi forces.
The protests on Monday consisted of PMF members and their supporters who blocked all the main roads to Mosul. The demonstrators also stoned Iraqi forces, preventing them from advancing toward the security points.