Deash Needs a Name Change
Brigadier General Yadollah Javani told IQNA that the full recapture of Mosul in Iraq means the ultimate defeat of Daesh in Iraq.
Meanwhile, he said, the developments in Syria show that the era of Daesh in the region has come to an end and the terrorist group should now change its name.
He was referring to what the group has called itself, namely the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Syria), since it captured swaths of land in Syria and Iraq back in 2014.
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s announced an end to Daesh’s "state of falsehood” following the recapture of Mosul’s landmark Grand al-Nuri Mosque, from where the terror outfit proclaimed its so-called caliphate three years ago.
In Syria, too, the Arab country’s government and popular forces have liberated a large part of territories occupied by Daesh.
General Javani hailed the Iraqi victory over the terrorist group, saying it was achieved due to the presence of the Iraqi people in the scene and the Fatwa (religious edict) issued by religious source of emulation.
In June 2014, shortly after Daesh unleashed its terror campaign in Iraq, grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a grand source of emulation, issued a fatwa calling on all Iraqi citizens to defend their country.
"Citizens who are able to bear arms and fight terrorists, defending their country and their people and their holy places, should volunteer and join the security forces to achieve this holy purpose,” said a Sistani representative in his sermon at Friday prayers in the holy Iraqi city of Karbala at the time.
The fatwa helped Shia fighters, Sunni tribesmen as well as Christian and Yezidi volunteers gather under one umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), commonly known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, to prevent Daesh’s advances.
In the early days of Daesh emergence, Iraqi government forces, who had been overwhelmed by the terror group’s lightening advances, suffered heavy blows on the battle ground.
However, Hashd al-Sha’abi fighters helped the army regain strength and achieve an upper hand in the fight against Daesh militants.
The Iraqi parliament last year recognized Hashd al-Sha’abi as an official force with similar rights as those of the regular army.
