Iraq: Armed Factions Accuse Anbar Commander of 'High Treason'

Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) march during a military parade in Daquq, nearby Kirkuk, Iraq (File photo: Reuters)
Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) march during a military parade in Daquq, nearby Kirkuk, Iraq (File photo: Reuters)
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Iraq: Armed Factions Accuse Anbar Commander of 'High Treason'

Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) march during a military parade in Daquq, nearby Kirkuk, Iraq (File photo: Reuters)
Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) march during a military parade in Daquq, nearby Kirkuk, Iraq (File photo: Reuters)

Iraqi Commander of operations in al-Anbar province Mahmoud al-Falahi was recorded in recently-leaked audio talking to who he said was a CIA agent. In the audio, he disclosed information on military bases and locations of Popular Mobilizations Forces (PMF) in western Iraq.

The audio also revealed that the Iraqi official was asked to provide geographic coordinates of existing PMF military bases especially of ''Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades'' and al-Nujbaa to be attacked by US and Israeli forces.

Iraqi Defense Minister Maj. Gen Najah al-Shammari ordered the establishment of a commission of inquiry after the recordings were published.

The Security and Defense Parliamentary Committee called for the formation of a committee to investigate the veracity of the leaks, and some members even pointed that Falahi might face the death penalty if the recordings were proven to be true.

''Hezbollah Brigades'' attacked Falahi accusing him of “high treason”, adding that some parties close to the commander and US embassy are trying to stoke sectarianism.

Brigades’ spokesman Mohammed Mohiuddin asserted that evidence is clear of Falahi’s involvement.

Mohiuddin said that ''Hezbollah Brigades'' expect the US Embassy to question what has been published and adding that the case of commander Falahi involves treason, espionage and conspiring against the Iraqi people.

Falahi’s silence on the accusations does not mean he is unable to respond, but because he has been instructed by the Defense Ministry to remain silent until the investigation results are released, according to a source close to Anbar Operations Command.

The source, who preferred not to be named, said that the recording is fabricated by well-known parties that seek to extend their influence over Anbar areas, especially in the west.

He indicated that the commander of the operations regularly meets with US leaders to coordinate with them on security issues in Anbar and the border with Syria and Jordan, therefore he does not need to contact intelligence agents.

The source believes the issue is that certain factions and PMF brigades are trying to take over al-Nukhayb Airport and other vital areas west of Anbar to facilitate the movement and transit to Syria, which was not allowed by Falahi.

Anbar MP Adel al-Mahallawi condemned the “offensive fabrications” and desperate attempts to undermine the army and its leaders.

He said that in recent days, a number of "unacceptable" statements were issued against the army and its leaders. He praised the military and its efforts, asserting that any offense against it is directed at all Iraqis.

The MP called on all political forces and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces to take firm stances against anyone trying to weaken the military for "evil" and "suspicious" purposes supported by foreign parties that are aiming to target the security and stability of the country.



Families of Disappeared in Syria Want the Search to Continue on Conflict’s 14th Anniversary

 Family members hold pictures of their relatives who disappeared in the nearly 14-year Syrian civil war, during a protest calling on the interim government to not give up on efforts to find them, in the city of Daraa, Syria, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP)
Family members hold pictures of their relatives who disappeared in the nearly 14-year Syrian civil war, during a protest calling on the interim government to not give up on efforts to find them, in the city of Daraa, Syria, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP)
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Families of Disappeared in Syria Want the Search to Continue on Conflict’s 14th Anniversary

 Family members hold pictures of their relatives who disappeared in the nearly 14-year Syrian civil war, during a protest calling on the interim government to not give up on efforts to find them, in the city of Daraa, Syria, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP)
Family members hold pictures of their relatives who disappeared in the nearly 14-year Syrian civil war, during a protest calling on the interim government to not give up on efforts to find them, in the city of Daraa, Syria, Sunday, March 16, 2025. (AP)

Family members of Syrians who disappeared in the 14-year civil war on Sunday gathered in the city of Daraa and called on the interim government to not give up on efforts to find them.

The United Nations in 2021 estimated that over 130,000 Syrians were taken away and disappeared, many of them detained by Bashar al-Assad's network of intelligence agencies, as well as by opposition fighters and the extremist ISIS group. Advocacy group The Syrian Campaign says some 112,000 are still missing to this day.

When opposition led by group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham overthrew President Bashar Assad in April, they stormed prisons and released detainees from the ousted government's dungeons.

Families of the missing quickly rushed to the prisons seeking their loved ones. While there were some reunions, rescue services also discovered mass graves around the country and used whatever remains they could retrieve to identify the dead.

Wafa Mustafa held a placard of her father, Ali, who was detained by the Assad government's security forces in 2013. She fled a week later to Germany, fearing she would also be detained, and hasn't heard from him since.

Like many other Syrians who fled the conflict or went into exile for their activism, she often held protests and rallied in European cities. Now, she has returned twice since Assad's ouster, trying to figure out her father's whereabouts.

“I’m trying, feeling both hope and despair, to find any answer on the fate of my father,” she told The Associated Press. “I searched inside the prisons, the morgues, the hospitals, and through the bodies of the martyrs, but I still couldn’t find anything.”

A United Nations-backed commission on Friday urged the government led by interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa to preserve evidence and anything they can document from prisons in the ongoing search for the disappeared and to pursue perpetrators.

Some foreign nationals are missing in Syria as well, notably American journalist Austin Tice, whose mother visited Syria in January and met with al-Sharaa. Tice has not been heard from other than a video released weeks after his disappearance in 2012 that showed him blindfolded and held by armed men.

Syria’s conflict started as one of the popular uprisings of the so-called 2011 Arab Spring, before Assad crushed the largely peaceful protests and a civil war erupted. Half a million people have been killed and more than 5 million left the country as refugees.