SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) denied it had violated an agreement between Baghdad and Erbil to normalize the situation in Sinjar.
Commander of PMF’s Nineveh Operations Command Khudhair al-Matrouhi said reports about the presence of the group inside Sinjar was “completely false news”.
“We are committed to the Sinjar agreement … Our units are present and deployed outside Sinjar to secure western Nineveh areas from any attacks or infiltrations of Islamic State militants and to secure roads and corridors for the return of displaced persons to their areas,” Matrouhi told Shafaaq news.
In October, the federal government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) reached an agreement to normalize the governance and security situation in Sinjar.
Under the deal, all armed groups should leave Sinjar and allow the Iraqi security forces to take control of the district.
On Friday, the PMF, also known as Hashid al-Shaabi, said it had deployed more troops to southern Sinjar in an effort to strengthen its forces there to provide security and stability for the displaced persons.
Last week, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command said there were no armed groups in Sinjar and that the Iraqi forces were in control of the district.
His remarks came after KRG Prime Minister Masrour Barzani said the armed groups which were supposed to leave the district under the Erbil-Baghdad agreement were still present there.
“As long as I know, the Sinjar agreement hasn’t been implemented … The parties supposed to leave those areas are still present there,” Barzani said in a press conference on February 10.
“The normalization of the situation to allow the return of the displaced people living in camps has not been implemented as well,” Barzani added.
“We are seriously waiting for the agreement to be implemented as it is, but unfortunately it has not yet, even though we lost a lot of time.”
