PMF expresses solidarity with Lebanon, offers humanitarian support as regional tensions escalate

BAGHDAD — The head of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Faleh Al-Fayyad, expressed solidarity with Lebanon on Monday in light of recent tensions with Israel, affirming the PMF’s readiness to mobilize all available relief, medical, and humanitarian resources in coordination with the Iraqi government.

The PMF’s statement follows a message from Shia Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani, who also voiced support for Lebanon after recent airstrikes and pager explosions. Al-Sistani called for an end to the violence and urged “the faithful to assist in alleviating their suffering and addressing their humanitarian needs.”

The Popular Mobilization Forces, formed in 2014 in response to the Islamic State’s advances, is a state-sponsored coalition of militias, predominantly Shia, but also including Sunni, Christian, and Yazidi groups. In 2016, the PMF was formally integrated into Iraq’s armed forces to ostensibly unify these groups under state control.

Full statement from Faleh Al-Fayyad reads:

We have received with great attention the statement by the Supreme Religious Authority (al-Marja’iyya), His Eminence Sayyid Ali al-Sistani (may his noble shadow endure), regarding the ongoing brutal Zionist attacks on the Lebanese Republic. These assaults have targeted heroic resistance fighters and innocent, defenseless civilians and continue with relentless airstrikes on populated areas.

We affirm our complete solidarity with our brothers in Lebanon in the face of Zionist arrogance and the daily cycle of killing that moves across Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. We are fully prepared and mobilized to offer all possible forms of assistance—whether in relief, medical aid, or humanitarian support—to our brothers in Lebanon. This is in response to the call of the Supreme Religious Authority and stems from our humanitarian, fraternal, and religious obligations.

We urge all our brothers to contribute help and humanitarian support to our Lebanese brethren, coordinating with the Iraqi government and official authorities, thereby living up to the hadith [Prophet Mohammed’s speech]: “The believers, in their mutual love, mercy, and compassion, are like a single body; when one part of the body aches, the whole body reacts with sleeplessness and fever.”

May God protect Lebanon—its land, its skies, its people, and its resistance.