Iraqi Ground Forces opens up about new arming contracts and others facts

INA – BAGHDAD
 
Commander of the Ground Forces, Lieutenant-General QassIm Al-Muhammadi, revealed new contracts to import advanced drones and artillery from France.
 
"The leadership of the ground forces constitutes more than 72% of the number of Iraqi forces, as they are the ones who hold the ground and the rest of the units play the role of support to our forces," said Al-Muhammadi in an interview with the Iraqi News Agency (INA), stressing that they "constitute approximately two-thirds of the size of the other security forces,”
 
He added, "There are efforts to develop the ground forces and keep pace with updates," explaining, "Our forces are an extension of the ground forces of the former army, so we need modern weapons, including tanks, cannons and rifles,"
 
Armament file

Al-Mohammadi indicated that "there are two directions in armament, the first is the US one, where there are advanced tanks, which are the Abrams tanks, and there are T-90 tanks of Russian origin, as we have many of them that are equivalent to the Abrams, as well as there are many armored vehicles and a lot of existing equipment," stressing that "there are plans to increase the divisions and brigades in order to increase the capabilities of the Iraqi army,"
 
He explained, "There are many contracts that include armed drones flying in Iraqi airspace for 30 hours and capable of addressing targets and continuous monitoring towards various regions as they have proven their ability and effectiveness," noting that "there are excellent artillery that will be imported from France with high accuracy, in addition to weapons with night vision and many contracts, some of which arrived at the port and some in the factories to support the armed forces,"
 
Al-Mohammadi indicated, "There is competition among easterners and westerners in order to prove their ability, and we, as armed forces, support diversification of armaments," noting, "There is a serious desire to develop Iraqi weapons, and there are projects that have been started until we can manufacture them ourselves,"
 
The security situation in the country

On the security situation in the country, Al-Mohammadi said, "The security situation is stable and Daesh is currently only able to move with one wheel or bicycle in the desert and move in disguise," explaining that "terrorist elements are not able to gather and be in one place for more than 6 people, because they do not have the ability to mobilize and move, as they are located in places far from the sight of the people and the security forces, such as deserts, caves, and the borders separating the operations leaders, and they move only at night, as once they are diagnosed, the security forces move quickly to deal with them,”
 
He pointed out that "the only threat from terrorist elements is on the border line between Iraq and Syria, because it is an extension of the strategic depth of Daesh in Syria, where it is presented with their families in northeastern Syria after their escape from Iraq,”
 
"If we were able to control the Syrian-Iraqi borders, we would eliminate 80% of Daesh threats," He included.
 
He stressed that "Daesh is now sleeper cells, and their locations have been identified within the Hamrin mountain range and the desert of western Iraq, as the search for its elements is ongoing," noting that "the best way to confront Daesh is air control of their movements at night and quick treatment by drones, army planes or ground forces. We have a careful strategy to follow up on them,"
 
"Some violations occur in Tarmiyah and its orchards, where Daesh is presented in certain detachments and individuals as they work as gangs towards the armed forces and escape by the security forces, despite the difficulty of the operation while they were in the bushes, orchards, and forests,” he noted.

The role of the international coalition

Al-Muhammadi assrted, “There are no coalition forces as an independent force on the ground at all. Rather, our units operate on the ground within our units and formations with the Popular Mobilization Units, the Federal Police and Counter-Terrorism. We are all Iraqis fighting and holding the ground,” noting that “the role of the coalition is only to strengthen the Iraqi air force and army with reconnaissance capabilities and sometimes only air treatment,"
 
Training file

"Training takes place in all armies, and our experience increases when we send officers abroad to be trained or when trainers from NATO come to train our units. As for fighting on the ground, all the fighting for the Iraqi forces and even air support is 90% of it for F16 planes and Iraqi helicopters,” he explained.