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The Militia Commander Beating Back ISIS in Iraq Makes the U.S. Nervous
(Wall Street Journal) Nour Malas - Behind the rise of a paramilitary force in Iraq credited with saving the country from Islamic State is an Iran-trained jihadist, Jamal Jaafar Ibrahimi, who is under a Kuwaiti death sentence for orchestrating bombings at the American and French embassies there in the 1980s. Today, known mostly as Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, he is the most influential commander in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a force of mostly Shiite Muslims that is a parallel Iraqi army. "He says he represents Ali Khamenei," Iran's supreme leader, says Mishaan Jbouri, a Sunni lawmaker. He is also the right-hand-man in Iraq of Iranian Maj.-Gen. Qasem Soleimani, senior militia leaders said.