The war in Iraq has made for some strange bedfellows, namely ex-Sunni Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) fighters and the Baghdad-sponsored organization of mostly Iran-allied Shiite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), Foreign Policy (FP) reported this week.
In an interview with the Kurdish Rudaw news service published on Thursday, Shiite militia member Ahmed Ali Hussein declared that his group was proud to be added to America’s list of terrorist organizations. He also worried that fresh U.S. sanctions on Iran would cut off Tehran’s financial support for his organization.
U.S. manufactured tanks have reportedly ended up in the arsenal of fighters from an umbrella organization of mostly Iran-allied Shiite militias in Iraq that have expressed hostility towards troops from the United States, according to an audit by the top inspector general (IG) for overseas operations.
Health personnel in Iraq’s Diyala province rushed more than 100 Shiite militiamen from a Baghdad-sanctioned group backed by Iran to the hospital after they reportedly ate poisoned food at an Iraqi restaurant.
Tensions between Kurds and Iranian-backed Shiite militias sanctioned by Baghdad continue to intensify in northern Iraq, prompting young Kurdish men to fight back “the bullies” with RPGs and machine guns in the latest incident in a wave of clashes between the two groups, reports Kurdistan24.
A commander with the Iranian-allied Shiite militias fighting in Iraq argued this week that U.S. military troops who continue to back the Middle Eastern country’s forces against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) pose a threat to the nation’s unity.
A component of the Baghdad-sanctioned coalition of mainly Iran-allied Shiite militias in Iraq has threatened to attack U.S. troops if they refuse to leave the country, declaring that the United States “has become our direct enemy.”
The Trump administration’s opposition to the independence referendum approved by northern Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has prompted the Kurds to consider “revising” its mutually beneficial relationship with the United States, according to the region’s former president.
“Iranian militias that are in Iraq, now that the fight against Daesh and ISIS is coming to a close, those militias need to go home. The foreign fighters in Iraq need to go home and allow the Iraqi people to regain control,” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday.
Textbooks the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) left behind in an Iraqi town reportedly confirm that the jihadist organization is indoctrinating boys to become the next terrorist generation committed to its cause.
U.S.-designated state-sponsor of terror Iran is helping Shiite-led Baghdad gain control of disputed territory in northern Iraq, according to the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).
U.S.-supported Iraqi government troops and Iran-allied Shiite militiamen have reportedly retaken the “last” Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) bastion in northern Iraq, marking the latest sign that the jihadist group’s so-called caliphate in the region is dwindling.
Tehran has reportedly deployed dozens of artillery-backed tanks and its powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) to link up with Iran-allied Shiite militias at the Iraqi Kurdistan border in response to the Kurds overwhelmingly voting in favor of independence from Iraq last Monday.
The U.S.-backed Iraqi military has reportedly announced that it plans “to coordinate military efforts” with neighboring Iran, considered by the American government to be the leading state-sponsor of terrorism.
A Baghdad-sanctioned umbrella organization in Iraq, made up mainly of Iran-backed Shiite militiamen, has trained about 280 child soldiers in the use of weapons, Rudaw has found.
Turkey, in support of Sunni Turkmen, is expected to oppose Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s decision to allow Iran-allied Shiite militias to participate in the offensive to retake Tal Afar, considered the Islamic State’s (ISIS/ISIL) largest remaining stronghold in northwestern Iraq.
Some activists claim northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region is removing members of the Yazidi minority group for joining the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) or publicly opposing the upcoming independence referendum.
The next time post-Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) Iraq descends into war will be linked to the Baghdad-sanctioned Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of predominantly Iran-backed Shiite militias, an Iran analyst during the 2017 Aspen Security Forum.
The Kurds in northern Iraq have accused the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a Baghdad-sanctioned umbrella organization largely made up of Iranian-backed Shiite militias, of carrying out an “Arabization” campaign in the disputed Kurdish areas in the region.
The Baghdad-sanctioned umbrella organization of mostly Iran-allied Shiite militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) “deserve a share of the credit for their sacrifices” during the successful operation to retake Mosul from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), indicated the U.S. commander leading the coalition fight in Iraq and Syria.
Iranian “martyrs” and the Islamic Republic of Iran deserve a share of the credit for their sacrifices to liberate Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL), claimed former Shiite Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who currently serves as vice president of the country.
A Kurdish Peshmerga commander has accused a Baghdad-sponsored umbrella organization of mostly Iran-allied Shiite militias of arresting three of their fighters in northern Iraq’s predominantly Sunni Nineveh province amid flaring tensions between the two groups.
The U.S.-led coalition does not “seek” to offensively fight against the Iran-backed Shiite militias in Syria who recently fired on American troops for the first time, but it is ready to “defend itself” if they attack, a Pentagon spokesman tells Breitbart News.
Many members of the Yazidi minority group in northern Iraq who had been recruited by the U..S.-designated terror group Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) to defend their territory against the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) are now joining an Iran-allied Shiite paramilitary group trying to capture more territory in the war-ravaged Middle Eastern country.
The United States and its allies are expected to send more weapons to anti-Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad rebels to try to repel a new push to open a supply route between Iraq and Syria by Iran-allied Shiite militias fighting alongside local fighters.
Iran-backed Shiite paramilitary troops, sanctioned by Baghdad, say they have pushed the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) out of several villages west of Mosul, advancing further towards Iraq’s border with Syria.
Arab leaders in northern Iraq’s Sunni-majority Nineveh province have called on the international community to keep Iran-allied Shiite fighters, such as members of the Baghdad-sanctioned Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), out of the provincial capital of Mosul and its surrounding areas.
The U.S. Army has lost track of more than $1 billion worth of weapons and other equipment destined for local allies combating the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) in Iraq, including an Iran-allied group of Shiite fighters, reveals a report.
The U.S.-led coalition and its Iraqi partners should be vigilant against a near certain reemergence attempt by the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) after it loses its territory in Iraq, where tens of thousands of Iran-allied Shiite militias pose just as serious of a threat to America’s interests, experts warned.
Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) jihadists are strapping bombs on stray dogs, including a puppy, to use them against U.S.-backed coalition forces in Iraq, a video posted by Iraqi government-sanctioned paramilitary fighters purportedly shows.
Baghdad government-sanctioned paramilitary forces predominantly made up of Shiite militiamen backed by Iran have launched a new effort to recapture more Iraqi villages from the Sunni Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) terrorist group.
