A new video released by the League of the Revolutionaries (LoR), a likely Iranian-backed front group, warned of a future attack against the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.
The video begins by depicting the launch of rockets against American troops operating in Iraq with scenes of U.S. soldiers killed in action.
In addition to depicting the deaths of American soldiers, an aerial view of the American Embassy in Baghdad is shown. The video from the drone shows it maneuvering over different areas of the Embassy. The video highlights military vehicles, buildings and a helicopter landing pad, all presumed to be sensitive areas of the Embassy.
The publication ends with the message “US Embassy, our eyes observe their movements and they will not achieve what they want.”
Another graphic released with the video (shown below) quotes the group as further warning “this embassy of evil is within the sights of our rockets and if we want we can turn it into scattered dust.” It is unclear when the footage was filmed. However, an unidentified commercial drone hovering over the embassy last May caused the compound to enter a temporary lockdown.
If this incident was indeed the work of the LoR, it would further demonstrate its role as a front group as this was almost a year before its publicly announced creation.
This is not the first time that the LoR has threatened the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. In its inaugural statement last month, it explicitly stated “and we say to the evil clients of the [American] Embassy: Your days are numbered, and you reap what you sow.”
Subsequent social media posts linked to the group have repeated this message.
As previously detailed by FDD’s Long War Journal, the “League of the Revolutionaries” is likely a front group for other, more established Iranian proxies in Iraq. The use of a one-off front is a tried-and true-method that allows for plausible deniability.
Moreover, the League of Revolutionaries’ logo, which mirrors that of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its proxies across the Middle East, calls attention to its position within Iran’s ‘axis of resistance.’
The IRGC and its network have a long history of utilizing front names to claim more sensitive attacks – especially in Iraq. This includes the kidnapping of an American soldier in 2006 and the kidnapping of five Britons in 2007.
Graphic released by the group warning that the embassy is “within the sights” of its rockets:
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