Non-local PMU forces left prior to the subsequent operation that began Nov. 11 to retake Rawa, the last IS-held town in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Qassem Mohammedi, the head of the Jazeera Operations Command, told Al-Monitor on a nearby desert front Nov. 14, roughly a week after Al-Monitor’s first meeting with Karbouly in liberated Qaim. Later that day, Karbouly said in an interview at a temporary base his forces were using in Karableh that a number of non-local PMU forces were still there, but that Asaib Ahl al-Haq had “gone back to Baghdad.”
Several Asaib Ahl al-Haq flags, insignia and graffiti still covered the walls throughout the Karableh district and its still mostly uninhabited streets. According to Karbouly, only 10 families had remained in the area. Only a few dozen more had returned by mid-November.
Aaly al-Furat has taken part in all the major battles in western Anbar since receiving training and weapons. In late September, just after the Iraqi army and local PMU forces retook the city of Anah, Karbouly had told Al-Monitor, “When I met with Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi in July, he told us that his intention was to have the tribal forces on the front line [during the fight to win back the western Anbar].”
As for the battle for Anah, Karbouly said, “Even the Norwegian, Danish and US special forces were 500 meters [0.3 miles] behind us. The Iraqi army and local PMU forces were on the front line. There were no non-local PMU forces or Counterterrorism Services involved.”
Anah, about 62 miles east of Qaim, became the base where many of the officers involved in the Qaim battle would meet, sleep and use the internet, in part because it was the only place in the area that got cellphone reception. It is considered one of the safer parts of western Anbar. Al-Monitor's reporter spent the nights of Nov. 13-14 with local families in the city.
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