Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.30
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
Turkey has created a Sunni militia Hashd Al-Watani in Iraq, Rudaw newspaper reported Dec.30 citing the sources in Kurdistan Regional Government in Northern Iraq.
Turkish authorities haven't yet commented on this information.
Reportedly, Hashd Al-Watani aims to participate in liberation of Mosul, one of the important oil centers of Iraq. The IS terrorist group (ISIS, ISIL, or Daesh) took full control over Mosul on June 10, 2014.
Kurds are also among Hashd Al-Watani members, according to the newspaper. Its militants were trained in Turkey's military units in Iraq.
Earlier, in order to fight the IS, a Shiite militia Al-Hashd-al-Shaabi was founded in Iraq in 2014. It includes 30,000 Iraqi servicemen, according to Iraqi media.
Al-Hashd-al-Shaabi has repeatedly participated in the operations against the IS. Nevertheless, it has big disagreements with Kurdish militias regarding the liberation of Mosul city. Al-Hashd-al-Shaabi states that it will control Mosul after its liberation which doesn't meet the interests of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Northern Iraq, according to Iraqi media.
Earlier, Turkey sent military aid to Iraq with two C-130 planes to liberate Mosul. It was expected that the operation to retake Mosul would start in April 2015.
Meanwhile, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, which doesn't obey to KRG, said it also wants to take part in liberation of Mosul which doesn't meet the interests of Ankara and KRG.
Edited by SI
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