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ByHamzaHendawiand Qassim Abdul-Zahra The Associated Press BAGHDAD It was a tense confrontation between two forces supposed to be on the same side in Iraq. First, heavily armed po- lice, led by the interior min- ister, waded into a Shiite militia base south of Bagh- dad and arrested its deputy commander, accused of or- ganizing attacks on Sunni mosques. They loaded the man, Ali Reda, into an ar- mored SUV. Then militia reinforce- ments descended, sur- rounded the police and demanded Reda be freed. Weapons were drawn. The minister, Mohammed al- Ghabban, the highest figure in Iraq's police force, fran- tically called Baghdad from inside his SUV. In the end, al-Ghabban surrendered his prisoner and left empty-handed, an- gry and humiliated. The standoff in mid-Jan- uary, described to The As- sociated Press by six dif- ferent officials and militia leaders, was a stark exam- ple of the power that Shi- ite militias have accrued in Iraq and their boldness in wielding it. These militias, many of them backed by Iran, mobi- lized in 2014 to fight Sunni extremists from the Islamic State group. However, they are now showing no inten- tion of standing down af- ter the battle, demanding instead to be a major force shaping Iraq. That pros- pect worries not only Iraq's Sunni minority but also offi- cials in the military and the Shiite-led government, who fear the militias will domi- nate Iraq the way the Rev- olutionary Guard does Iran and the guerrilla group He- zbollah does Lebanon. Two top generals warned that the army could eventu- ally come to blows with the militias, known collectively as the "Hashd," Arabic for "mobilization." "They (the militias) have now infiltrated the govern- ment and are meddling in politics," said Ali Omran, commander of the army's 5th Infantry Division and a veteran of numerous battles against IS. "I told the Hashd people that one day I and my men may fight them." The more than 50 Shi- ite militias in Iraq have be- tween 60,000 and 140,000 fighters, according to esti- mates from the government and the Hashd itself. They are backed by tanks and weapons,andhavetheirown intelligence agency, opera- tionsroomsandcourtoflaw. The larger militias, like Asaib Ahl al-Haq, the He- zbollah Brigades, Badr and the Peace Brigades, have been in place since soon after the 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein. They are linked to political parties, effectively forming armed branches for politicians. But the ranks of the mi- litias swelled dramatically after IS overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014 and Grand Ayatol- lah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric, called on able- bodied males to fight IS. At the time, tens of thousands turned out. Those same militias now want to remain a perma- nent, independent armed force and are resisting at- tempts to integrate them into the military or police, the AP found from inter- views with more than 15 government officials, army generals and militia leaders and visits to Tikrit and Sa- marra, Sunni-majority ar- eas where the militias now hold power. The militias in- sist they have earned a spe- cial status, pointing to the 5,000 militiamen killed and 16,000 wounded fighting IS. "Those who sacrificed more are entitled to more," said Hamed al-Jazaeery, head of the al-Khorasani Brigades militia. "What is written with blood cannot be removed. It is not ink on paper." Al-Jazaeery wears the black turban of a cleric and the camouflage fatigues of a fighter. The walls of his of- fice are adorned with pho- tos of the leader of Iran's Is- lamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and its current supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Other photos show al-Jaza- eery posing with Iranian Gen. Qassem Suleimani, the powerful Revolutionary Guard figure who helped organize the Iraqi militias against IS. "We want to be a third power in Iraq," alongside the army and police, al- Jazaeery said. "Why can't the Hashd be like the Rev- olutionary Guard in Iran?" The model of the Revolu- tionary Guard, often cited by militia leaders, would be a dramatic change for Iraq's militias. In Iran, the Guard is an elite force indepen- dent of — and better armed than — the military, tasked with "protecting" the Shi- ite cleric-led power struc- ture. It is effectively a state within a state, rivaling the political strength of Iran's supreme leader. Sunnis fear such militia power would enforce Shiite domination of Iraq. Sunnis already accuse militias of targeting them with abuses. IRAQ Fearsingovernment,army over Shiite militias' power PHOTOSBYHADIMIZBAN—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Shiite fighters clash with the Islamic State group at the frontline in Tikrit, Iraq, 80miles north of Baghdad. Shiite fighters chant slogans against the Islamic State group at the frontline in Tikrit, Iraq. THANASSIS STAVRAKIS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A girl looks out of a bus window a er her arrival by ferry with hundreds other migrants and refugees from the northeastern Greek island of Lesbos to the port of Elefsina, west of Athens, on Monday. By Derek Gatopoulos The Associated Press ATHENS,GREECE Greece's prime minister warned Monday that an interna- tional agreement to limit the number of refugees traveling to Europe could not be properly imple- mented unless smugglers on the Turkish coast are stopped. Turkey's president, meanwhile, slammed Eu- ropean countries for their criticism of his country's record on human rights and media freedoms and accused them of failing to protect the rights of refu- gees. The refugee agreement went into effect Sunday, under which Greek author- ities will detain newly-ar- rived refugees and send them back to Turkey and the European Union will settle more refugees di- rectly from Turkey and speed up financial aid to help Turkey care for the 2.7 million Syrian refugees it is hosting. On Monday, however, the two sides were still working out details of how the migrants will be sent back. "We have to make an uphill effort because im- plementation of this agree- ment will not be an easy issue," Greek Prime Min- ister Alexis Tsipras said. Tsipras met in Ath- ens with EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and asked the EU to increase pres- sure on Turkey to crack down on smugglers. Greek government fig- ures released Monday said the number of stranded refugees in Greece now ex- ceed 50,000 with no signif- icant letdown in the num- ber of daily arrivals. "Unfortunately, yes- terday, there was a high number of arrivals, some 1,500," Tsipras said. "If a reduction of (refugee) flows does not occur, we will not be able to evac- uate the islands success- fully so that the deal can start to be implemented fully." Four migrants died Sun- day while trying to reach Greece, two men off the island of Lesbos and two girls off the tiny islet of Ro, the coast guard said, as smugglers appeared to be opting for more overnight trips and increasingly dan- gerous routes. Monitors from Turkey arrived Monday on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios to help super- vise the agreement and were to stay for at least one week. Greece's conservative opposition criticized the Turkish arrivals, a con- troversial topic as Greece and Turkey have ongoing boundary disputes in the Aegean Sea. In Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey had agreed to the refugee deal with the EU to prevent Syrian refu- gees from being subjected to "derogatory treatment" as they piled up at closed European borders. He also criticized West- ern countries for rejecting Turkish proposals for the creation of a no-fly zone or other secure zones in Syria, which he said would have prevented Europe's refugee crisis. Greece: Refugee deal 'uphill effort' amid influx MIGRANT CRISIS Construction Burrows Construction Remodel, New Additions, Siding Repair and Replacement, Water and Dryrot New Construction Foundation to Finish Ph:(530) 515-9779 Residential•Commerical PATIOS•DECKS REFRENCES Lic#824770 Roofing Call for Estimates! Residential, Commercial & Mobiles www.harbertroofing.com HARBERT ROOFING, INC. 530-223-3251 Lic# 696974 Time To Roof? Blinds Need Blinds? 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