IRGC Quds Force chief in Baghdad to meet Shia militant leaders - Iraqi media

Commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is visiting Baghdad to meet the leaders of Tehran-backed Shia groups as well as the Iraqi prime minister, Arab media reported Sunday.

Esmail Ghaani (Qaani) and a number of his advisers in the Quds Force arrived in Baghdad on Sunday morning to meet with the leaders of the Shia factions and the head of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Falih al-Fayyadh, Erem News reported citing an Iranian source.

Iraq's Alsumaria TV says Ghaani will later meet with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who is expected to visit Tehran on Wednesday.

Iranian officials or state-run media have not yet confirmed reports about Ghaani's visit to the Iraqi capital.

In the meetings, Ghaani will discuss Washington's pressure on the Iraqi government to dissolve the PMU or integrate them into the Iraqi armed forces, the reports said.

The developments in Syria and the fall of Bashar al-Assad will also be a focus of the IRGC Quds Force chief's talks with Iraqi politicians.

The Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) or Hashd al-Shaabi, was established in 2014 following a religious decree to combat ISIS, which at the time had taken control of four Iraqi governorates and threatened Baghdad.

Supported by the IRGC, these groups wield considerable power over Iraq’s governance, military operations, and energy infrastructure.

Despite their original mandate to combat ISIS, many of the militias have since expanded their activities, frequently targeting US forces and installations in Iraq with rockets and drones, and exacerbating tensions between Tehran and Washington.

While the Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization is largely composed of Shia Muslim groups, it also includes Sunni Muslim, Christian, and Yazidi factions with an estimated 128,000 fighters across 67 different armed factions.