The clashes between the Shiite militias and the American contingent in Iraq, which have continued since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, have reached a turning point. The Iraqi-backed militias have been harassing the bases occupied by the American contingent and it has responded, killing a dozen combatants. But Thursday's drone attack that killed a brigade commander crossed the boundaries of the Iraqi government and army, taking place inside the defense complex in the capital, Baghdad. “It is no different from terrorist acts,” an army note said.
The reaction of the Prime Minister, Mohamed Shia al Sudani, was forceful yesterday. The Americans (about 2,500 troops) are part of the multinational force sent to Iraq to combat the Islamic State (and of which the armies of Spain and France are also members). Al Sudani has openly proposed that this force withdraw from the country in its entirety.
The Iraqi army note stated that the US attack on Iraqi military installations – of which it had no prior knowledge – “is a clear violation of the legal mandate for which this coalition was created.”
The Iraqi Government said it was setting a date for the creation of a bilateral committee, which would include members of the international coalition, for its liquidation and departure from the country. Prime Minister Al Sudani has already expressed this will in recent weeks, which is also a demand from the Shiite parties that support him and from the notorious Hadi al Ameri, one of the leaders of the Shiite militias included in the so-called Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashid al Shabi.
The matter is complex, because the Hashid al Shabi group of militias, which played a very relevant role in the fight against the Islamic State, was framed within the Iraqi Ministry of Defense but did not lose its autonomy, in a similar way to what happens with Hezbollah and its armed force in Lebanon. Thus, within Hashid al Shabi there is a faction called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, whose members have been attacking the Americans in their bases with rockets and drones in the last three months. One of these militias is Al Nujaba, whose leader, Mushtaq Talib al Saidi, was killed by the drone on Thursday.
Just yesterday, the Al Harir base of the multinational force was attacked by a drone from the Shiite militias. But, almost at the same time, the US Central Command issued a message of gratitude to the Iraqi police for having discovered, on January 3, a cruise missile that would be intended to attack US troops.
The situation compromises everyone. The Iraqi Government cannot impose itself on the Shiite militias, and in any case the North American presence in the country has been reviled since the invasion in 2003. At the same time, they now act on behalf of the Palestinian people, and constitute an active arm of the so-called Axis of Resistance against Israel sponsored by Iran. On the other hand, and despite the fact that the presence of the Islamic State in Iraq seems residual, the coalition, and the United States, do not have a pretext to leave the country, especially when the organization has just emerged again, this time in Iran.
In this context, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, General Hossein Salami, yesterday accused the United States and Israel of being behind the double attack on Wednesday in Kerman that cost the lives of 89 people. President Ibrahim Raisi called for revenge during the funerals for the victims of the attack and stated that “our forces will decide the place and time to act.”
According to the Iranian Ministry of Information, nine people in six provinces have been detained in connection with the attack. It would be the “support network” of the two suicide bombers, one of them a Tajik national; that of the other was to be determined yesterday. Two explosive vests and other material were found in his hideout in Kerman.
