Popular Mobilization Forces
Will Iraq’s Iran-Backed Militias Disarm?
Due to Iraq’s position in the region, the armed paramilitaries increasingly present a challenge for stability.
Iraq at a Crossroads
On October 4, the Israeli military announced that two of its soldiers were killed in a drone attack on the Golan Heights by Iraqi armed factions. This attack reverberated across...
Coercive Politics: Iran’s Proxies in Iraq Were Never in Trouble
In late 2021, Iraqi politics took a decisive and hopeful turn. The October election was a disaster for some of Iraq’s most malign actors. Their defeat at the ballot box...
Tensions Rise as Iraq Fails to Form Government Months After Election
Seven months after Iraq’s October 2021 elections, tensions have risen across the country as the parliament’s competing factions have failed to assemble a governing coalition. Particularly sharp divisions are evident...
Biden Administration Hesitates to Condemn Iranian Terrorism in Iraq
Proxies of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) sent an exploding drone to assassinate the prime minister of Iraq, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, on Sunday morning, according to reporting by Reuters. Kadhimi survived. The U.S....
Overnight Drone Attack Reveals Iranian Ploy to Overturn Iraq’s Election
Iraqi prime minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi survived an assassination attempt targeting his residence on November 7. An explosive-laden drone struck the Green Zone residence and injured seven of Kadhimi’s bodyguards, according...
Will Arming ‘Public Uprising Forces’ Stop the Taliban’s Advance?
MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan—It’s something of a grim domino effect. Afghanistan is rapidly falling back to Taliban control, as the bulwark insurgency advances into cities across the embattled nation, killing hundreds and...
How to Keep Iraq’s Unruly Militias Under Control
The military capability and reach of Islamic State has deteriorated so much over the past year that the Iraqi government will now need to think long and hard about the...
How Iraq’s Most Senior Cleric Became a Major Power Broker
It is no secret that Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s premier Shia authority, altered his role as a strictly religious figure and dove head-on into the country’s politics after the U.S....
Inside Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units
To many observers, the Hashd al-Shaabi were the militia that spelled the end of Iraq, as much as the emergence of ISIS signalled endless chaos. The popular narrative goes like...