Najaf and Karbala mobilize for Ashura pilgrimages, Popular Mobilization Forces involved

NAJAF, Iraq — The Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf has launched a full mobilization to receive pilgrims for Ashura, the shrine's media director Haydar Rahim said on Sunday. Rahim said service, security and technical units have been prepared under the visit program, and that coordination with relevant state institutions is underway to manage the convoys heading to Karbala. The shrine provides thousands of free meals daily, along with guidance, health and security services to visitors from inside and outside Iraq, he added. Separately, the Karbala High-Level Security Committee, chaired by Governor Nasif Jassim al-Khattabi, held a comprehensive meeting ahead of the 10th day of Muharram. The commander of the Popular Mobilization Forces' Diwan al-Kat'a operations in the Euphrates region also attended, according to local reports. Ashura commemorates the killing of Hussein ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, at Karbala in 680 AD, and draws millions of pilgrims to the city each year. No further details on security arrangements were immediately available.