Is the Iraqi crowd divided after the killing of its operations engineer?

Loay Al-Mosli - Baghdad

The popular crowd in Iraq is witnessing a state of inconsistency between its factions after the killing of its actual leader, Abu Mahdi, the architect of an American raid in Baghdad, and this may lead to an open or undeclared division, according to observers.

The engineer - who was killed on January 3 with the Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani in an American raid in Baghdad - played a big role in strengthening the crowd and not allowing any disputes to affect him and "was the backbone of the crowd," according to a leader in it.

This leader spoke to Al-Jazeera Net, refusing to mention his name about the possibility of differences that may appear to the public during the coming periods between some factions, "and explains that" the engineer was ending every problem that occurred between the factions or between the leaders. "

According to the same source, "It is currently difficult to find a figure who fills the engineer’s place, and in the first dispute we will miss his presence."

Operational commander
The engineer is considered the de facto leader of the Hashd, although he holds the capacity of Vice-President of the Commission, but he ran all the military buildups and most of the battles that took place in Iraq against the "Islamic State".

"After the assassination of the engineer, the Iraqi crowd will lose its mastermind and its leader who is respected by the Iranian decision center," Rahman al-Jabouri, chief researcher at the American University of Sulaimaniya’s regional center, told Al Jazeera Net.

He explains that "the popular crowd will live on the passion and memory of the engineer for a period of time, and I do not think there is a man on the Iraqi side who is able to fill his void" and indicates that "the engineer is respected by all factions."

For his part, political analyst Mahdi Jassem told Al-Jazeera Net that "the crowd held together to maintain its strength or presence after the killing of the engineer or to restore his balance is very little, if not impossible, especially since most of his leaders have been placed on the wanted lists."

He adds, "The loss of this influential personality will not be compensated." He believes that "the personalities present in the crowd currently lack a consensus element, internally and externally." Al-Jubouri returns in agreement with Jasim, saying, "One of the advantages of the engineer is that he is a leader for everyone, not a leader of a specific faction.

Although the crowd has a president and he is Faleh al-Fayyad, he was not a leader of the crowd, he has many differences with a number of factions, especially those that follow the wilaya al-faqih system of ideology, and this may mean that Al-Fayyad will face several problems during the coming period in dealing with these factions.

Commander of all
The leader of the crowd, Ryan Al-Chaldani, refutes the expectations and speculation about a future division between the factions, affirming that he remains consistent and linked to the Prime Minister and the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi armed forces.

"The popular crowd is an institution, and a great Iraqi power, and there are no differences in it, although there is a difference of views or opinions," says the Chaldean, who leads the "Babylonian Brigades" faction of Al-Jazeera Net.

He notes that "the killing of the architect is a great loss", but at the same time he stresses that "the PMF will continue to follow the path it has drawn."

And US sanctions - imposed on leaders with the crowd and expected to be imposed on other leaders during the coming period - play a major role in destabilizing the crowd, which has become parallel to the Iraqi army or stronger than it at the level of influence during the past five years.

The popular crowd is now in a state of almost loss - according to observers - the loss of an engineer means the loss of the pyramid's head and its "process engineer" as it is called in the country.