Iranian-backed militias are again using Iraq to attack neighboring states and threaten the Middle East. On Monday and Tuesday, the militias targeted Saudi Arabia and the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq, while also threatening Jordan, Israel, and Syria.
This is in line with how the militias have behaved in the past, especially those that Iran has built up over the past decades within its network in Iraq and linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The most recent attacks by the militias targeted Saudi Arabia and the Kurdistan Region, while it also appears that they may have targeted Syria, as evidenced by anti-aircraft fire seen in Syria overnight. It is clear from these 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 troops 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 terrorist plots in Kuwait in the 1980s. He later rose to command Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah and was killed in a US drone strike in 2020 alongside IRGC Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani.
How Iran built its Iraqi militia network
Iran’s IRGC 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 and Specially Designated Global Terrorists, including Kataib Hezbollah, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat al-Nujaba, and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.
It is not known which groups carried out the Monday and Tuesday attacks. Kataib Hezbollah has usually 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. Its leader, Qais Khazali, even went to Lebanon in 2017 and threatened Israel.
These groups, which are close to Hezbollah, appear to threaten Syria now that it is seen as being closer to the US and pressuring the Lebanese terrorist group. This can be seen in Syrian authorities stopping arms smuggling to Hezbollah through the country’s territory.
Iran claimed to target an area near Tanf in Syria, the site of a former US garrison that was established to support Syrian rebel groups fighting ISIS and was closed in February. Kataib Hezbollah also targeted Tower 22 in Jordan, killing three Americans in January 2024.
It is possible that Iran is now seeking to use the militias in Iraq for new rounds of threats against Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and possibly Israel or US troops, something the militias have already done 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 have claimed numerous drone and rocket attacks against US troops 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, home to diverse Christian, Yazidi, and other minority communities, there are also Iranian-backed militias. Kurdistan Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has said that attacks on the region came from the Mosul area.
The Popular Mobilization Forces’ 30th Brigade, linked to the Shabak community, emerged during the war against ISIS and subsequently established significant influence around Mosul and the Nineveh Plains. It is linked to Badr, a group not sanctioned by the US and one of the largest militias in the PMF.
In the past, militias in the Nineveh Plains used Bongo trucks carrying 122 mm. rockets to target the Erbil area of the Kurdistan Region, where US troops and a US consulate are located. In recent months, the attacks have come from drones. This is part of the militias’ effort to acquire more drones from Iran over the last six years.
The full details of the recent drone attacks remain to be seen. In Jordan, Petra News noted that, according to the Jordanian Armed Forces, “the Royal Jordanian Air Force intercepted and shot down a drone that breached Jordanian airspace early Tuesday.” The Jordanian military did not say where it came from.
The IDF said, “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 also did not say where the UAV came from. On Monday, the IDF said that it had “intercepted two UAVs identified in the area of the Jordan border.”
Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has indicated that he wants to place all weapons in Iraq under state control. This means militias are supposed to disarm, but it also means they may argue 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 that they will resist. Kataib Hezbollah and other hard-line groups are well armed and have shown that they are willing to threaten countries around Iraq at Iran’s behest. The latest attacks illustrate how Iran is operationalizing these groups even as US-Iran tensions appear to have temporarily eased in the Strait of Hormuz.