—❗️🇺🇸/🇸🇾/🏴 NEW: U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announces the U.S. carried out 70 airstrikes against ISIS positions throughout Syria today, codenamed 'Operation Hawkeye Strike', in response to an attack that killed 2 U.S. servicemembers and one civilian contractor in Palmyra earlier this month

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—❗️🇮🇶/🇮🇶 BREAKING: Various Iraqi Shiite militias, including the largest and most influential two (Kataeb Hezbollah and Harakat Al-Nujabaa), have refused the call from the Iraqi judiciary to disarm and hand over their weapons

The militias, most of which are Iran-backed, state that resistance to foreign occupation is a legitimate national right, and that they will only engage in discussions with the Iraqi government after all NATO forces (including the U.S. and Turkey) leave Iraqi soil.

Earlier today, the Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council called upon all armed militias to 'cooperate in enforcing the rule of law, restrict weapons to the state, and transition to political action', now that the national need for military action has ceased.

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— 🇮🇶/🇮🇶 NOTE: Most of the Iraqi militias were founded in response to the rise of ISIS in 2013-14 to defend Iraq. They later formed the umbrella command structure called 'PMF' (Popular Mobilization Forces) as part of the Iraqi Armed Forces. However, some militias like Al-Nujabaa, Kataeb Hezbollah, and others were formed much earlier, during the American occupation in the early 2000s.

Since several years ago when ISIS was largely defeated, the Iraqi government has begun emphasizing that these militias are no longer necessary and eventually need to be disbanded and absorbed by the state.

Most of the militias agree with eventual disarmament, as there is no longer a 'national need' for a defense of the homeland against ISIS, however some of them argue that they should only disband after ALL foreign forces leave Iraqi soil, especially the U.S. military. That is the disagreement currently between militias and the Iraqi government.

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