Iraqi officer discloses military info to CIA over WhatsApp - report
The CIA agent also instructed Mahmoud al-Falahi to meet with US army and intelligence service commanders in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan region or at the US forces' base in al-Habaniyeh" in Western Iraq.
By TZVI JOFFREA member of Iraqi Federal Police waves an Iraqi flag as they celebrate victory of military operations against the Islamic State militants in West Mosul, Iraq July 2, 2017(photo credit: REUTERS)
A senior commander in the Iraqi army disclosed information on military bases along the Iraq-Syria border to a CIA agent, according to audio files and WhatsApp chats released by the Iraqi Hezbollah terror group, the Iranian Fars news agency reported.Mahmoud al-Falahi, the commander of operations in the al-Anbar province of Iraq, was asked by a CIA agent who is an Iraqi national to provide geographic coordinates of existing military bases along the border between Iraq and Syria "to be attacked by US and Israeli forces."The CIA agent also instructed al-Falahi to meet with US army and intelligence service commanders in Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan region or at the US forces' base in al-Habaniyeh" in Western Iraq, according to Fars.The released conversations show that al-Falahi provided the detailed coordinates of military bases in al-Anbar as the CIA agent requested.Iraqi Hezbollah used the audio files to show al-Falahi's "plot against the Iraqi army, security, Hashd al-Shaabi (the Popular Mobilization Forces) and resistance forces" and warned that the spying he had done for the CIA and Israeli Mossad had endangered Iran's national security.Mohammad Mohie, spokesman for Iraqi Hezbollah, claimed on Saturday that the US is attempting to smuggle al-Falahi out of Iraq, according to the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news agency."The US embassy should be condemned for its role in Iraq as well as the US forces," said Mohie. "We have been in a confrontation with Washington ever since its entry into Iraq because of the crimes it committed. America cannot be trusted or dealt with properly.""We are waiting for the technical report to be issued by the Ministry of Defense to analyze the audio recording," Hussein Allawi, an academic, told Al-Mayadeen.Allawi added that if the report was confirmed, "the law determines the fate of the officer concerned."Iraqi defense Minister Maj. Gen Najah Hassan Ali al-Shammari ordered the establishment of a commission of inquiry after the recordings were published, according to Al-Mayadeen.
