The leaders of some of the most powerful Iran-backed terror groups in Iraq, including the notorious Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH), are considering disarming, Reuters reported on Monday, in response to threats of airstrikes from President Donald Trump.
Reuters spoke anonymous to “six local commanders” of mostly Shiite terrorist militias in Iraq, which it identified as KH, Nujabaa, Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada and Ansarullah al-Awfiyaa. It described the militias as members of the amorphous “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” group, which emerged in response to the Hamas invasion of Israel on October 7, 2023, in solidarity with the fellow Iran-backed terrorist organization. The “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” conducted several attacks targeting American bases in Iraq in 2024 in support of Hamas. KH, which is believed to have been the most powerful entity in that coalition, initially announced its intent to launch a war against American forces in the region, but ultimately backed out in late January 2024, stating they did not wish to “embarrass” the Iraqi government.
These groups are also part of the more formal coalition known as the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which helped the Iraqi military fight the Sunni jihadists of the Islamic State and were formally integrated into the Iraqi armed forces despite their status as anti-American terrorist organizations.
The commanders consulted for the Reuters article indicated that the threat of the Trump administration killing the militias’ leaders in airstrikes or other military operations informed their decision to consider fully dismantling. An Iraqi politician identified as Izzat al-Shahbndar corroborated the report, stating that talks between Baghdad and the jihadist militias about disarming and integrating into the formal Iraqi military were “very advanced.”
Iran is also reportedly involved in the process of evolving these militias into a new, presumably more legitimate form. The head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Esmail Qaani, reportedly visited Iraq in March urging PMF terrorists to retain “discipline” and prevent any unwanted military exchanges with America. The Quds Force is Iran’s external terrorism unit, responsible for coordinating with the country’s many jihadist proxies around the world and reinforcing Tehran’s interests and goals regarding terrorist attacks on foreign enemies.
President Trump killed Qaani’s predecessor, Qassem Soleimani, in January 2020 in an airstrike in Baghdad, where he was meeting with the founder and leader of KH, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. The airstrike also eliminated Muhandis, leaving the jihadists leaderless.
The possibility of similar airstrikes on PMF and “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” leaders now that Trump has returned to the White House featured prominently in the decision by the militias to seek disarmament, Reuters indicated.
“Trump is ready to take the war with us to worse levels, we know that, and we want to avoid such a bad scenario,” an anonymous KH commander told the outlet.
“The move to defuse tensions follows repeated warnings issued privately by U.S. officials to the Iraqi government since Trump took power in January, according to the sources who include six local commanders of four major militias,” Reuters reported. “The officials told Baghdad that unless it acted to disband the militias operating on its soil, America could target the groups with airstrikes, the people added.”
Shahbndar, the Iraqi politician, credited the jihadist groups with “not acting stubbornly” and seeking to coexist with the Iraqi government, which would in theory require them to accept Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as their commander in chief. He suggested that their future could include being accepted as formal political parties, giving them some say in the workings of the Iraqi government, or arms of the Iraqi military. The framework is similar to negotiations occurring in nearby Syria, where the jihadist terror organization Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) ousted longtime dictator Bashar Assad in December. In March, the head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led pro-U.S. militia, accepted becoming part of the new Syria’s military, meaning it would accept the head of HTS, now-President Ahmed al-Sharaa, as its commander-in-chief.
Reuters reported that, in addition to verbal assurances from the PMF commanders that they were working towards dismantling the current state of their operations, they have begun limiting their public presence in Iraq.
“Some groups have already largely evacuated their headquarters and reduced their presences in major cities including Mosul and Anbar since mid-January for fear of being hit by air attacks, according to officials and commanders,” the outlet reported.
The Iranian government, apparently concerned of an American attack on its proxies, appears to have given its blessing for the reconfiguration. The regional outlet Shafaq News reported in late March that, following a visit by Qaani to Baghdad in which he urged the militias not to “escalate” tensions, the militias agreed to accept the Iraqi government’s authority.
“Under the arrangement, all PMF brigades and units, including the formerly independent factions, will operate under the direct command of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani as commander-in-chief of the armed forces,” Shafaq reported, citing anonymous sources.
Sudani has for months urged the United States to vacate his country, insisting that the fall of the Islamic State “caliphate” and reduced presence of Sunni terrorists allow for this, but omitting mention of the Shiite terrorists.
“Today, Iraq in 2024 is not the same as Iraq of 2014,” Sudani insisted in September. “We have defeated Daesh [ISIS] with our sacrifices and the Iraqi people’s position from all its components and factions and with the support of the international community and friends.”
“We found that the justifications have ended. There is no longer a need for a coalition of 86 countries. We moved from a period of wars to a period of stability. Daesh doesn’t pose a threat to the state,” he told Bloomberg News.
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