Several groups have recently emerged inside Iraq that have claimed strikes against US troops. However, they all appear to be part of a calculated propaganda campaign propagated by Iran and its allies against the United States inside Iraq.
Since its founding in 2013, the Iranian-led Afghan Shia militia has been at the forefront of most major battles in the defense of the Assad regime.
There have been at least 43 attacks using rockets and/or mortars on U.S. positions in Iraq by Iranian-backed Shiite militias. These attacks shed light on Iranian and allied-Shiite militia intentions and strategy.
Iran continues its support for its proxy militias in Syria, as the Israeli military attempts to counter it.
Hosts Bill Roggio and Tom Joscelyn discuss Hezbollah’s influence in Iraq and the State Department’s decision to offer a $10 million reward for information concerning the group’s main man in the country.
Hezbollah operates closely in Iraq alongside Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to prop up and support Shia militias hostile to the U.S. and the West. Muhammad Kawtharani has played a key role in Hezbollah’s operations.
The Iranian proxy group continues its surveillance of US troops in Iraq.
The group celebrates a March 2014 bombing which killed two Bahraini and one Emirati policemen.
Throughout its statements, the front group has made threatening the U.S. embassy one of its main talking points.
Additionally, the group’s leader, Qais al Khazali, and his brother, Laith al Khazali, have been listed as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. Both Qais and Laith were in U.S. custody up until the withdrawal from Iraq in December 2011.
A spokesman of the group warns US troops in Iraq, while also threatening Israel in a speech that alludes to Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The group is likely a front for other Iranian proxies inside Iraq.
The security official of Iran’s proxy group Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades) gives Iraqi contractors until March 15 to stop working with US troops.
Iranian-backed militias are taking part in the battle for northwestern Syria.
Over the last two weeks, the Saudi-led coalition and its allies have reported killing several members of Lebanese Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in Yemen.
The killing of Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis last week reportedly claimed the lives of eight lesser-known colleagues as well. The death of these aides indicates that those who serve designated terrorists may suffer the same fate as their superiors.
The U.S. Department of Defense confirmed the attack was “launched from Iran” and that it “targeted at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S. military & coalition personnel at Al-Assad & Irbil.” No casualties have been reported.
Muqtada al Sadr has reactivated two of his longstanding militia forces in Iraq in response to the U.S. killing Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani.
The rare joint statement both eulogizes Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al Muhandis and offers vague threats of retaliation in Bahrain.
Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani became “complacent” while traveling to and from Iraq, and did not believe the U.S. would target him, U.S. military officials told FDD’s Long War Journal. The military was able to reliably track his movements at times.
Qods Force commander Qassem Soliemani and Popular Mobilization Forces deputy Abu Mahdi al Muhandis were terror and insurgency masterminds who were revered in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and beyond for their support of the Iranian-backed Shia militias and terrorist groups that have destabilized several countries in the Middle East.
Abdul Reza Shahlai is one of Qods Forces’ most dangerous commanders.
The confirmed drone strike campaign so far from Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen represents another worrying development in the region.
Since 2015, the Houthi insurgency in Yemen has claimed dozens of attacks on ships in the Red Sea. FDD’s Long War Journal has mapped these strikes.
Houthi sources stated Ibrahim al Houthi was killed by the Saudi-led coalition, while Saudi sources state he was killed by a rival faction.
Two Iranian-backed groups in Bahrain have threatened to launch new attacks on the island if Bahrain goes through with the expected executions of two citizens accused of terrorism.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps shot down a MQ-4 Global Hawk as it was gathering intelligence over the Strait of Hormuz. It is the third US drone targeted by Iran and the second shot down since the beginning of the month.
US troops in Iraq have been targeted three times in mortars and katyusha rocket strikes since last weekend. Shia militias that are supported by Iran are suspected of carrying out the attacks, which take place as tensions between the US and Iran increase.
Both photos and videos clearly show Yemeni people donating money to support Hezbollah, despite the current hardships plaguing Yemen.
Should Iran have taken the decision to attack civilian vessels that carry oil, it could represent one way to do damage to global oil shipments without inviting massive retaliation. Such a move would be consistent with Iran’s highly graduated approach to escalation and desire to respond to the Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign.