Exiled Governor of Mosul Asks For Antichrist’s Help

 
Exiled governor: Arms needed to recapture Mosul

By Govand Mustafa

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – The governor of ISIS-occupied Mosul has warned that neither his Sunni troops nor the Kurdish Peshmerga are likely to take part in the liberation of the city without proper weapons.

“Our forces are prepared, but they do not have the necessary weapons to recapture Mosul,” Asil Nujaifi, the now-exiled governor, told Rudaw this week.

Meanwhile, Shiite groups have also expressed hesitation at entering the impending campaign, and have opposed a bill now before US Congress to directly arm Kurdish and Sunni forces fighting ISIS.

“We have prepared 6,000 troops from the Nineveh [Mosul] province police force and recruited another 5,000 volunteers, but neither they nor the Peshmerga are willing to take part in the operation without being properly armed,” Nujaifi said.

Nujaifi fled to the Kurdistan region in June when ISIS forces overpowered the fleeing Iraqi Army in the province and stormed Mosul city and its then-population of two million people.

Nujaifi’s remarks come as the Shiite Sadrist bloc in Iraq’s parliament has publicly denounced a draft law now in US Congress to arm Sunni and Kurdish forces and warned the move would escalate existing tensions in the country.

Zia Asadi, a Shiite lawmaker, said Wednesday his Sadrist bloc will work in coming days to encourage other political blocs to oppose the US bill. The draft bill is expected to be voted on in Washington next week.

“But if diplomatic, political, public and legal efforts don’t lead to a reversal of the decision, then we will resort to military option,” Asadi told the Ahrar parliamentary group, which is believed to be under the influence of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr.

Speaking a Washington think-tank on Wednesday, visiting Kurdish President Masoud Barzani said he hoped Peshamrga forces would receive the needed arms even if it was not directly.

“The meeting at the White House was very successful and the issue here is that the Peshmarga will receive the arms, directly or indirectly is of secondary importance,” Barzani said.

Nujaifi said Sunni tribes in Mosul province have shown willingness to cooperate with his administration but “they need guarantees that they will be treated well after recapturing the city.”

“We predict between 500,000 to 700,000 people will be displaced as a result of the operation,” Nujaifi said.

“Hopefully we will manage to handle the refugee crisis without burdening the Kurdista region with more displaced families.”

According to a United Nations estimate over 1.5 million refugees from neighboring Syria and Iraq have taken shelter in Kurdistan Region.