Tag Archives: Popular Mobilization Forces

Falih al Fyyadh at Nasrallah's funeral

Pro-Iranian Iraqi militia leaders gather in Lebanon for Hezbollah leader’s funeral

| February 23, 2025

Falih al Fayyadh, the head of Iraq’s largely pro-Iranian Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), traveled to Beirut for the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on February 23. Other senior members of pro-Iranian militias in Iraq also attended the funeral, and several militia leaders put out statements. Hezbollah-affiliated media claimed approximately 200,000 Iraqis came to Lebanon for the event, though this number is unverified.

Drone attack on Kurdistan gas field

Drone attack targets gas field in northern Iraq

| February 4, 2025

On February 2, a drone targeted the Khor Mor gas field in the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Dana Gas, which runs the facility, said that operations continued as normal, and there were no injuries. The same area has been attacked several times in recent years, including by an Iranian-type Shahed drone in April 2024. The US Embassy condemned the attack, and Iraq’s prime minister called for an investigation.

Iraqi militia leader speech

Iranian-backed militias in Iraq face an uncertain future

| January 28, 2025

Pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, collectively part of the Hashd al Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units), face increasing calls to place their arms under state control or lay them down entirely. The fall of the Assad regime, a new administration in Washington, and the Gaza ceasefire have put these groups under the spotlight in Iraqi politics.

Tehran’s pawns in Iraq

| January 23, 2025

Bill is joined by show regular Edmund Fitton-Brown to discuss Edmund’s latest analysis for FDD’s Long War Journal: The role of Iraqi Shia militias as proxies in Iran’s Axis of Resistance.

U.S. designates Iraqi PMF chairman for human rights violations

| January 11, 2021

Falih al-Fayyadh, the Chairman of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces and the former National Security Advisor to the Iraq’s Prime Minister, was identified as a member of an “Islamic Revolutionary Guard Force Qods Force supported crisis cell” that supported attacks on protesters in 2019.

Iranian killed at PMF base in Iraq

| July 24, 2019

Both Iranian media and media linked to Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces have reported different narratives surrounding the events of a purported explosion at an Iraqi base last week. However, Iranian media has confirmed at least one Iranian was killed at the base.

US Treasury adds Qods Force, Hezbollah officials to list of global terrorists

| November 13, 2018

While the Treasury designation focuses on the four Iraqis’ links to Hezbollah, which is described as “a terrorist proxy for the Iranian regime that seeks to undermine Iraqi sovereignty and destabilize the Middle East,” it practically ignores the fact that one of them is the Secretary General of the Imam Ali Battalions, or Kata’ib Imam Ali, a key component of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an official military arm of the Iraqi state that reports directly to the prime minister.

Iraqi militant Qayis Khazali warned us about Iran. We ignored him.

| September 7, 2018

Iran has its tentacles all over Iraq, and the United States has no one to blame but itself. It is a bipartisan failure dating back to the March 2003 invasion. The seeds of this failure can be seen in the interrogation transcripts of Qayis Khazali, the leader of the Mahdi Army’s Special Groups and Asaib Ahl al Haq.

Iraqi forces launch offensive against Islamic State in Hawijah

| September 21, 2017

The Iraqi government launched a new offensive against the Islamic State in the Hawijah pocket earlier today. Hawijah is considered one of the group’s two remaining strongholds inside Iraq. The other is in the western Anbar province, where the Iraqi government began new operations on Sept. 19.