Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (Al-Hashad Al-Shabi )have called on the central government in Baghdad to expel Saudi Arabia’s ambassador for instigating sedition and insulting the Iraqi people, saying Thamer al-Sabhan has “exceeded all the limits”.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units spokesman, Ahmed al-Assadi

Thamer al-Sabhan

In a televised interview aired by al-Sumeria satellite television on Saturday, the Saudi ambassador claimed that sectarianism and tribalism were the driving force behind the Iraqi government’s arming volunteer forces. He had also alleged that the Iraqi volunteer forces are not popular among Iraqi people.

Assadi called on “the Iraqi government and the foreign ministry to punish him for his rudeness against the Iraqi people and the Popular Mobilization Units", PRESS TV reports.

Al-Hashad Al-Shabi

“His comments against volunteer forces, the government, and the majority of the Iraqi people only make Iraq more determined in uprooting terror groups such as Daesh (So-called Islamic state or ISIS, ISIL and IS) and fighting their supporters and financial backers inside and outside the country,” he added.

Iraqi Transport Minister Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi, also slammed Saudi ambassador’s recent remarks, calling them a flagrant interference in Iraq’s internal affairs. He also added that the Popular Mobilization Units have so far liberated at least 170 villages from Daesh militants while hundreds of its forces have been martyred or wounded in anti-terror operations.

The commander in chief of the pro-government forces announced in a statement that the forces would take part in an operation aimed at liberating the city of Mosul, the country's second largest city currently under the Takfiris' control.