Iraq PM targets powerful militia stronghold in $30m oil smuggling probe

Iraq's Prime Minister has announced the dismissal of nine senior figures in relation to an alleged oil smuggling operation in the south of the country. It follows a leaked intelligence report here just a few days ago that identified two strategic oil pipelines running through the Babel province just south of Baghdad had effectively been tapped into with oil being siphoned off and stolen then sold on the black market for somewhere somewhere between 25 and 30 million dollars every month. of the nine senior officials who have been relieved of their duties it includes the chief of police for the province and senior security and intelligence officials. But this is a crucial escalation because this is a known stronghold for Kitab Hezbollah, the biggest and most powerful pro-Iranian armed group operating inside of Iraq. In fact this is an area that previous Iraqi prime ministers dared not to tread for fear of provoking an escalation. And so this area had effectively been run as a state within a state for Ketab Hezbollah until now. Prime Minister Zaydi saying that no inch of Iraq will be allowed to have oil smuggling operations like this continuing. There has been no one from Ketab Hezbollah named or implicated so far but the Prime Minister's office is saying that anyone implicated in this will be referred to the judiciary for prosecution and effectively this is his statement of intent. That there is no group that are untouchable and that there is no one will be allowed to operate outside of the law here in Iraq during his time as Prime Minister.