Iran’s militia infiltration of Iraqi authority … a US report warns

A US report has warned that Iranian-backed armed factions are reaching the highest levels of power in Iraq.

“The mass mobilization that followed the fatwa of Iraq’s highest religious authority, Ali Al-Sistani, in the struggle against ISIL has far-reaching consequences”, a report by the US Washington Post said. “The victorious factions will be listed at the highest levels of power in Iraq and put them on the path to confronting the US”.

“When the call came to fight ISIL, the ranks of volunteers expanded to a large extent, and friends raised funds to pay for transportation to local platoon recruitment offices”, the newspaper said. “The young men were already pushing on buses to the front lines to confront the group”.

Continued : “With the losses of the Iraqi army, Shiite factions often had the burden of overcoming ISIL fighters,” she said. “For many in Nasiriya, for example, a battle has started for the spirit of Iraq.”

Thamir Al-Safi, a man formerly involved in an armed faction, told the American newspaper : “At the time, it was just one thing.. Our Future and the Future of Iraq,” he recalled the 2014 battles in which ISIL killed two of his brothers.

The mass mobilization will have far-reaching consequences, the newspaper said, as the victorious factions will be listed at the highest levels of power in Iraq and put them on the track to face the United States.

The report considered that with the support of Iran in many cases, these armed factions escalated their missile attacks on American military sites in recent years, threatening to ignite a wider war between the USA and Iran while senior officials in Washington and Tehran are talking about the return of diplomatic contacts.

“While some US officials viewed the armed factions as mere agents in a campaign to expand Iran’s regional influence, these groups are often deeply rooted in the fabric of Iraqi society”, The newspaper continued.

The main umbrella group of armed factions, known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), was born in 2014 with broad support from southern Shia Iraq, after tens of thousands responded to calls by Iraq’s top religious leader to fight ISIL fighters.

“Today, armed factions are a powerful economic force throughout the country’s governing institutions”.

“When popular protests against the government broke out in October 2019, they were violently repressed with lethal force, often accused by human rights groups of abuses.”

“Abdullah, a former volunteer with the armed factions, said : “I felt remorse for letting my brother fight,” the man said on condition his last name was withheld for fear of reprisals : “I pray to God every day to live long enough to care for my brother’s children.”

An ISIL sniper killed his brother Haidar in an ambush in autumn 2014, Abdullah said.

In the predominantly Shia city of Nassiriya, the faces of dead fighters like Haider line the streets with faint billboards, and sentences from the past speak of sacrifice

“Although Iraq’s network of armed factions includes groups from the country’s majority religious communities, the Shia sect is largely dominant, and many of these factions are supported by Iran”.

Prominent armed factions such as Kataib Hezbollah, Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, Al-Najba et Badr are a major concern for U.S. officials, who have accused them in recent months of launching rocket attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq.