Iraq’s PMF display tanks and weaponry in large anniversary parade

March in Diyala province marks the anniversary of the paramilitary force’s founding seven years ago.

Thousands of members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) have marched in a parade showcasing tanks and rocket launchers, in the biggest demonstration of military might since the founding of the umbrella organisation of mostly Muslim Shia paramilitary groups. The event on Saturday at a military base in Diyala province, in eastern Iraq, marked the seventh anniversary of the formation of the PMF, established after a 2014 call to arms by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani to help defeat the ISIL (ISIS) armed group. At the time, ISIL held a third of Iraq’s territory and the PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi, was critical in helping the US-backed Iraqi army defeat it in 2017.