An Iraqi lawmaker says the United Arab Emirates, at the request of the United States and the Israeli regime, is implementing a “destructive” agenda in Iraq to “destabilize the country.”
Kazem al-Sayadi said on Wednesday that the Emirati interference in the Iraqi internal affairs is now an open secret, according to Iraq’s Alahednews Agency.
“The UAE received the Iraqi file at the request of the US and the Zionist entity [the Israeli regime] after the Daesh (terrorist group) occupied a number of provinces,” he said, noting that Abu Dhabi runs “death squads” in many countries across the world.
Sayadi added that the UAE’s National Security Advisor, Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, “buys the positions in the (Iraqi) ministries and assign them to corrupt figures” to implement the “destructive” Emirati agenda, which aims to “destabilize the security” in southern and central Iraq and to “target” the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), better known as Hashd al-Sha'abi.
The PMU is a government-sponsored umbrella organization composed of around 40 factions of volunteer counter-terrorism forces, including mostly Shia Muslim groups, besides Sunni Muslims, Christians and Kurds.
The PMU’s formation goes back to the summer of 2014, shortly after Daesh, the world’s most notorious terror group, showed its face and managed to occupy swathes of territory in Iraq.
The popular force played a major role in the liberation of the entire Iraqi land from the control of the terrorists in December 2017.
“The Emirati team which will supervise the Iraqi intelligence service aims to control all the security information of Iraq,” Sayadi said.
His remarks come as an Emirati security team has reportedly arrived in Iraq to manage the Iraqi intelligence service.
Qais Khazali, the leader of the Iraqi anti-terror movement Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, has also warned of a conspiracy against Iraq hatched by the Emirati security team.
He referred to the transfer of 300 from the Iraqi intelligence service to the country’s customs points, and asked if the transfer is related to the Emirati team’s visit.
Sayadi noted that there are attempts to make Iraq a subordinate to the UAE, “which is originally a subordinate to the Zionist entity.”
Earlier this year, an American think tank decried the UAE's role in the region, saying it has contributed to humanitarian crises and instability in the Middle East.