"Iranian Militia Leader Leading Iraq U.S. Embassy Raid Listed as Obama White House Guest" "Iranian militia leader Hadi al-Amiri, one of several identified as leading an attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, reportedly visited the White House in 2011 during the presidency of Barack Oba. Colonel Dave Williams, commander of the Joint Coordination Center of the International Coalition, blamed Iranian-backed militias who are tightening the noose on the population. Iran is trying to "Lebanonize" Iraq: to allow a pro-Western government to rule in theory while real power is wielded by Iran-backed militias. After pro-Iran blocs suffered a significant blow in the parliamentary elections, Iran's primary task is to fortify its base in Iraq while carefully tailor its game plan in Iraqi politics to . Pro-Iranian militias exchanged fire with a US-led coalition in eastern Syria Monday, a war monitor and the coalition said, in an escalation after deadly US air strikes in Iraq and Syria the previous night. So why are gas prices still high? The strikes targeted operational centers and weapons depots located in two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, according to the Pentagon. Tweeting under the hashtag "The decision to expel the occupation has already been taken," many of them repeated the slogan "No negotiations and no nothing . US official Brett McGurk, a former coalition envoy who played a key role in Iraq for decades, recently traveled to Baghdad. The pro-Iran militia have periodically targeted US interests in Iraq during the Trump and the Biden administrations. Since 2003, Iranian influence has deepened in Iraq through a wide array of Shiite militias. Under Tillerson, the US had continued the Obama administration policy of turning a blind eye to Iran's ever-increasing influence in Iraq, including the role of Iranian-backed militias. In Iraq, it . The assassination was the peak of a series of strikes and counterstrikes between the U.S. and Iran and pro-Iranian groups in late 2019 and early last year, a proxy conflict on Iraqi soil. A+ A-. The pro-Iranian militias bristled. A picture taken on Feb. 20, 2018, shows a convoy of pro-Syrian government fighters arriving in Syria's northern region of Afrin, with a portrait of the Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan seen on a banner in the background. It would not be the first time that Iraq was convulsed by fighting between the government and a diverse combination of militias, most notably in a 2007-08 Shia civil war that pitted the government . ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Pro-Iranian Iraqi militia groups have denied involvement in Sunday's assassination attempt on Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi and are mocking reports of . Overall the context is that Iran wants Turkey, the US, and other pro-western groups out of Iraq so it . This happened near Bashiqa a day after a . Washington, which is slowly reducing its 5,000 troops in Iraq, threatened last month to shut its embassy unless the Iraqi government. Last month, Iraq's top cleric, Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, called for the disbanding of all militias, six . At least 473 Iraqi protesters have so far been killed in the anti-government protests while thousands have been injured since early October, a security expert revealed on Saturday. Iraq's large pro-Iran militia were also forced to adopt a lower profile after a public backlash led to huge mass demonstrations against Iranian influence in late 2019. Volunteers with Iraq's Badr Organization patrol in Tikrit, Iraq, on Feb. 7. 2017. Iran's paramount goals are to shape Iraq's domestic trajectory and security policy, and to deter or counter any hostile action by the United States; Since 2003, Iran has empowered several militia groups that are now crucial players in the state-endorsed Popular Mobilisation Units (PMU), providing Iran with unique depth and leverage within Iraqi society and institutions Several militia leaders and politicians spent years in exile in Tehran during Saddam Hussein's reign in the 1980s and 1990s. Some Shi'ite militias have attempted to interrupt US patrols in Anbar province and Mosul in recent months. Iran is intervening in Iraq to quell destabilising internal unrest stirred up by Iranian-backed militias. On April 13, the day of the attack on the Israeli vessel, another pro-Iran Telegram channel, called Jihad Brothers Electronic Team, celebrated the attack and published a poster of a missile flying past a boat with the text: "What lies ahead is graver.". Several pro-Iran militias have lately claimed responsibility for attacking US forces in Iraq, but examining their media activities indicates they are probably fake groups created by existing militias to show strength without taking the risk of ramifications. The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) (Arabic: الحشد الشعبي al-Ḥashd ash-Shaʿbī), also known as the People's Mobilization Committee (PMC) and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iraqi state-sponsored umbrella organization composed of approximately 67 different armed factions, with around 128,000 fighters that are mostly Shia Muslim groups, but also include Sunni Muslim . The Iranian intervention in Iraq has its roots in post 2003 invasion of Iraq by the United States and allies when the infrastructure of the Iraqi armed forces as well as intelligence were disbanded in a process called ""de-Baathification" which allowed militias with close ties to Tehran to join the newly reconstituted army. The Hyperion Ray suffered minor damage in the attack. Saudi Arabia and the US were reportedly investigating whether the attacks involved cruise missiles launched from Iran or Iraq. Over the weekend several activists affiliated with Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a group the US sanctioned in January, waved flags and celebrated the US "withdrawal" from Iraq. Leaf was the Ruth and Sid Lapidus Fellow at The Washington Institute and director of the Geduld Program on Arab Politics from 2018-2021. File photo of a parade by Hataeb Hezbollah , one of the most powerful pro -Iran militia in Iraq. The group, which is composed . Iranian militias want less Turkish presence in Iraq and have targeted Turkish forces as well. Leaf Ambassador Barbara A. . They may have spoken too soon. Iran has emerged as the most influential foreign player in Iraq since U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in 2003. The alliance is primarily made up of groups modeled on the militia/party model that Hezbollah has long used in Lebanon. 34 i Al-Muhandis has been involved in two of the most prominent Iranian-backed militias in Iraq: he led the Islamic Supreme Council of . Although the Kurdistan autonomous region has tended to support the US staying in Iraq to help fight ISIS remnants, the tensions with pro-Iranian Shi'ite parties and armed groups is growing. In a round of urgent meetings, Ghaani, the new chief of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards . Many of the young activists who took part in the 2019 protests also raged against Iran's heavy-handed influence in Iraqi politics, including armed militias who rival the state's authority. This happened near Bashiqa a day after a rocket attack on a Turk A strike in eastern Syria in February . But dismantling the militias is proving to be an impossible task for the Baghdad government. . Three Attacks at US sites: Two in the Kurdistan Region, One in Anbar. Iraq faces "the most acute and immediate" threat from Iranian-backed militias, a top State Department official said last week. In addition to comprising the core of al-Hashd al . Several militia leaders and politicians spent years in exile in Tehran during Saddam Hussein's reign in the 1980s and 1990s. Dozens of angry Iraqi Shiite militia supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday after smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area, prompting . After a series of attacks in December 2019 led to an air attack by the US that killed Qasem Soleimani, Iran's top operator in the Middle East, in January 2020. Pro-Iran militias in Iraq burn images of Iraq prime minister, Israel The shocking photos from Iraq this evening show the men, who were detained on the evening between June 25 and 26, in crisp new jackets of the Popular Mobilization Forces, trampling and burning images By SETH J. FRANTZMAN. The Muslih and al-Wazni families lived in the same Karbala neighborhood . Iraq's large pro-Iran militias were also forced to adopt a lower profile after a public backlash led to mass demonstrations against Iranian influence in late 2019. The Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has encouraged Sunni extremist armed groups in Syria and pro-Iran Shiite militias in Iraq. 2016. Iraqi militia groups, who . One of Iraq's most powerful armed groups, the Badr Organization, was formed in 1982 by Iraqi exiles to fight Hussein with the support of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps . Although the Kurdistan autonomous region has tended to support the US staying in Iraq to help fight ISIS remnants, the tensions with pro-Iranian Shi'ite parties and armed groups is growing. The American magazine says, in an article by writer specializing in security affairs, Maya Carlin, that the series of attacks that took place in Iraq last week reveals the extent of the escalating tensions between the pro-Iranian militias on the one hand, and the United States and the Iraqi security forces on the other hand. Just two months after the US terminated Qassam Soleimani, Iran's schemes are again rolling forward.On Monday, March 30, his successor, Brig. Iraq has been rocked by mass protests against corruption, unemployment, and poor public services since 1 October. The international coalition against the ISIS terrorist group has said that it has regrouped in Iraq's Diyala province and areas in eastern Syria. This means that as Iraq's modern air force has fallen into disrepair, its new Iran-origin drone air force for the militias, a kind of IRGC air force inside Iraq, has mushroomed to take shape. But all the groups have shown loyalty to Tehran. By 2021, American forces were concentrated at Al Asad base in western Iraq, in Baghdad and also in Erbil in the autonomous Kurdistan Region. Kadhimi, a former journalist serving as Iraq's intelligence chief before he was appointed prime minister in May 2020, has clashed repeatedly with pro-Iranian militias whose influence he has . In 2019, the pro-Iranian militias accused Israel of airstrikes in Iraq. Pompeo's statement marked a sharp break from the position of his predecessor, Rex Tillerson, whom Pompeo replaced in April. 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