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The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Lebanese ambassador to Baghdad to officially protest after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun’s statement about the possible integration of the Hezbollah terrorist group into the Lebanese armed forces. This was reported by Newsru.
Aoun, who previously served as commander of the Lebanese army, made a statement that Hezbollah could be included in the Lebanese army – but not on conditions similar to those of the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in Iraq.
The SNM is a coalition of Shiite paramilitary groups that are formally part of the Iraqi army but de facto controlled by Iran.
“The Popular Mobilisation Forces are an important part of Iraq’s security architecture. It would be better not to involve Iraq in the internal Lebanese conflict and not to use our state institutions in this context,” the Iraqi Foreign Ministry stressed.
The Iraqi side viewed the comparison between Hezbollah and the SNM as unacceptable and detrimental to regional stability.
As a reminder, Joseph Aoun is a supporter of the idea of a state monopoly on the armed forces and has repeatedly stated the need to include paramilitary structures in legitimate security agencies. His comments have caused a wave of criticism both in Lebanon and abroad, in particular because Hezbollah is sanctioned by a number of Western countries and recognised as a terrorist organisation.
