Iranian-backed militias are again using Iraq to attack neighboring states and threaten the Middle East. Over the past day and a half, from July 27 to 28, the militias have targeted Saudi Arabia and also the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq.
It appears they may also be threatening Jordan and Israel, as well as Syria. This is in line with how the militias have behaved in the past. Over the past decades, Iran has built up a network of militias in Iraq and linked them to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The most recent attacks by the militias have targeted Saudi Arabia and the Kurdistan Region. It also appears they may have launched an attack into Syria, as evidenced by anti-aircraft fire seen in Syria overnight. It is clear from the recent attacks that Iran is attempting to operationalize its militias in Iraq.
To understand this, we must understand the background of the militias. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq emerged largely from Shi’ite armed groups that fought US and coalition forces after the 2003 invasion. Some, such as Badr, have origins going back to the 1980s.
Some of the leaders, such as Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were involved in terror plots in Kuwait in the 1980s. Muhandis then rose to command Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah. He was killed in a US drone strike in 2020 alongside the IRGC Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani
How Iran built its Iraqi militia network
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force provided funding, weapons, training and other support to these militias. Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq grew out of links to the Mahdi Army, while Kataib Hezbollah emerged around 2006.
After ISIS captured large areas of Iraq in 2014, many Shi’ite militias mobilized under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces. Although the PMF was subsequently incorporated into Iraq’s security structure, many factions retained close relationships with Tehran and developed significant political, economic, and IRGC influence.
The US identifies several major Iran-backed Iraqi militias as both Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). These include Kataib Hezbollah, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.
It is not known which groups carried out the attacks Monday and Tuesday. Usually Kataib Hezbollah has been behind sophisticated or long-range drone attacks on Saudi Arabia. It also sent militia members into Syria during the Syrian civil war, establishing a headquarters in Albukamal. Its members left Syria when the Assad regime fell.
Asaib Ahl al Haq’s leader Qais Khazali even went to Lebanon back in 2017 and threatened Israel. These groups are close to Hezbollah. It appears today that they may threaten Syria, as Syria is seen as being close to the US today and Syria has hinted that it may pressure Hezbollah. Syria has also stopped arms smuggling to Hezbollah via Syria.
Iran claimed to target an area near Tanf earlier this month in Syria. Tanf is a site of a former US garrison that was established to back Syrian rebel groups fighting ISIS. The garrison was closed in February. Kataib Hezbollah has also targeted Tower 22 in Jordan, killing three Americans in January 2024.
It’s possible Iran is now seeking to use the militias in Iraq for new rounds of threats to Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and also possibly to threaten Israel or US forces.
This is something the militias did in the past. Iran could use “The Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” which emerged as an umbrella label used by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack.
Groups operating under the banner claimed numerous drone and rocket attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria, as well as attacks targeting Israel, presenting themselves as part of Iran’s regional “Axis of Resistance,” over the last several years.
Drone attacks widen across the region
In the Nineveh plains near Mosul, there are also Iranian-backed militias. The Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq’s Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has said that attacks on the region over the last few days came from the area of Mosul. Mosul is near the Nineveh Plains. The Nineveh Plains in northern Iraq are home to diverse Christian, Yazidi, and other minority communities.
The Popular Mobilization Forces’ 30th Brigade, linked to the Shabak community, emerged during the war against ISIS. It subsequently established significant influence around Mosul and the Nineveh Plains. It is linked to Badr, one of the largest militias in the PMF. Badr is not sanctioned by the US. In the past, militias in the Nineveh plains used Bongo trucks with 122mm rockets to target the Erbil area of the KRG. There are US forces in Erbil and a US consulate. In recent months, the attacks have come from drones. This is part of the militias’ movement to acquire more drones from Iran over the last six years.
The full details of the drone attacks over the last few days remain to be seen. In Jordan, the state Petra News noted that “the Royal Jordanian Air Force intercepted and shot down a drone that breached Jordanian airspace early Tuesday, the Jordanian Armed Forces-Arab Army said.”
The army did not say where it came from. Israel’s IDF said just before 6 a.m. on Tuesday that “a short while ago, the Israeli Air Force intercepted a UAV in the area of the Jordan border. The UAV did not cross into Israeli territory.
The origin of the launch is under review.” It did not say where the UAV came from. On July 27, the IDF said that it had “intercepted two UAVs identified in the area of the Jordan border.”
Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has indicated that he wants to place all weapons in Iraq under the hands of the state. This means militias are supposed to disarm. However, it also means they may pretend that since they are part of the PMF, they are already under state control. Badr, for instance, will make this claim because it is the largest militia within the PMF.
Zaidi has not specifically named the militias he intends to see disarmed. The hard-core members of the “Islamic resistance” will not disarm, and they have indicated they will resist.
Kataib Hezbollah and the hard core are well armed and have shown they are willing to threaten countries around Iraq at the behest of Iran. The attacks on Monday and Tuesday illustrate how Iran is operationalizing these groups even as US-Iran tensions appear to be temporarily reduced in the Strait of Hormuz.