PMF
Iran—Iraq’s Unavoidable Neighbor and America’s Bitter Pill
One of the most ironic and adverse strategic outcomes of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq was the elimination of Saddam Hussein’s Baathist regime and the subsequent empowerment of a...
Are Iran’s Proxies Becoming More Dangerous?
On January 17, Iranian-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for aerial attacks that killed three civilians and injured six others in Abu Dhabi earlier this week. The missile and drone attacks detonated three...
Muqtada al-Sadr’s Next Step In Iraq
In a dramatic parliamentary session on January 9, the new Iraqi parliament reelected Mohamed al-Halbousi for a second term as speaker. While the vote further widened intra-Shia divisions, it also...
How the Soleimani Strike Hurt U.S. Interests in Iraq
In January 2020, just days after the United States assassinated Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani and Iran responded with a missile attack that wounded over 100 American soldiers, then-Secretary of State...
Failed Assassination of Iraq’s Prime Minister Preludes an Uncertain Future
On Sunday, November 7, the Iraqi military reported that Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi survived an exploding drone assassination attempt at his residence in Baghdad. The attack, which injured seven...
Drone Strike Fails to Assassinate Iraqi Prime Minister Kadhimi
In the early morning hours of Sunday, Iraq time, militias launched three drones laden with explosives at Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s residence in Baghdad’s heavily fortified international zone (or...
Iraqi Election Results Put Pro-Iran Parties in the Hot Seat
After the preliminary results from Iraq’s electoral commission became public on October 12, Iranian-linked parties immediately denounced the outcome as a “scam.” The political bloc affiliated with Iraq’s Popular Mobilization...
In Baghdad, Pro-Iran Militias are Trying to “Stop the Steal”
Hundreds of members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an umbrella group of Iraqi Shi’a militias, rallied against what they viewed as “fraud” in Iraq’s most recent election, which took place...
America Lost Afghanistan: Is Iraq Next?
Afghanistan’s collapse raises questions about what constitutes a responsible withdrawal. An insurgent network less than one-third the size of the Afghan security forces seized power within weeks despite the United...
Will Iran Attack the U.S. Al-Harir Air Base in Iraq?
After Iran’s missile attack on Iraq’s Ayn Al-Asad air base on January 8, 2020, new speculation suggests that Tehran is planning to target Al-Harir base, where U.S. forces are present,...
Will the American Pullout from Iraq Also End in Disaster?
After the fall of Afghanistan, a consensus among Iraqis has emerged that Iraq could follow a similar fate. The government in Baghdad could be best described as the center of...
Is Afghanistan the Capital of a New Terrorist Empire?
The Taliban’s rapid conquest of Afghanistan has taken many by surprise, but the commentariat has moved just as expeditiously in assessing its impact on U.S. national security. Conversations have largely...