A questionable pledge by Tillerson in Riyadh and a tougher line against Qatar in Congress. To subscribe to this daily roundup by Mideast specialist Joseph Braude, click here.
Tillerson calls on Iran-backed militias in Iraq to “go home.” ... In Riyadh alongside Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister, the U.S. Secretary of State, referencing the Popular Mobilization Units, declared, “Any foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control of areas that had been overtaken by ISIS and Daesh that have now been liberated.”
... But a Soufan Center Intelbrief says don’t hold your breath: “The U.S. wants the PMU to either merge into the Iraqi army or disband, a goal the Trump Administration has very little leverage to achieve. In the most likely scenarios, Iran will continue to support some PMU (not all of the militias are dependent or tied to Iran) in the ongoing Kurdish crisis and elsewhere across Iraq, as Baghdad struggles to assess and mitigate the brutal damage from the past several years.”
Meanwhile, in Washington, two U.S. Congressmen pledge greater pressure on Qatar to end terror financing. In an opinion piece in The Hill, Dan Donovan (R-N.Y.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) noted forthcoming legislation requiring the president to sanction individuals and state sponsored agencies that finance Hamas and other designated terrorist groups. “We will be offering two key amendments to the bill when it comes before the House Foreign Affairs Committee next month. The first will require regular reporting by the U.S. administration on whether Qatar is living up to its commitments under the memorandum of understanding. The second will mandate reporting on the presence of Hamas financiers residing in Qatar and any transfer of funds or material support either directly or indirectly between Qatar and Hamas.”