Shia Iraqi militia promises to spread fight to Saudi Arabia

Commander of a Shia Iraqi militia group promised to spread the fight across the Middle East to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, alongside the armed Houthi group in Yemen, reported Hadi Abdullah.

القائد في الحشد الشعبي العراقي "أبو مهدي المهندس" يقول: وصلنا للحدود السورية وسنستمر بالتقدم حتى #الرياض و جدة ومعنا "أنصار الله الحوثيين" ! pic.twitter.com/TJijvdZd6Y

— هادي العبدالله Hadi (@HadiAlabdallah) June 2, 2017

This news comes as the Iraqi Shia militia reached the border of Syria, and showed signs of transnational military objectives to assist Yemen’s Iranian-backed Shia group, the Houthis.

Since 2015, Saudi Arabia has led an Arab Sunni coalition against the Houthi group, with the objective of reinstating President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi’s governance to Sana’a and push back military advancement by the Houthi group towards southern Yemen.

It was announced earlier today that Qatari forces had been removed from the coalition after a number of Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and the Hadi government, severed ties with the Gulf state.