US, Saudi Arabia strike Iranian-backed militias in Iraq after militia attacks

US Central Command (CENTCOM) and Saudi Arabia’s Armed Forces carried out strikes on Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on the evening of July 28 after several days of escalating attacks by the militias on Saudi Arabia. In addition to targeting Saudi Arabia from July 26 to 28, the militias targeted the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq on July 26. The attacks took place as Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi visited Turkey on July 28 and came in the wake of his trips to Iran and the US earlier this month.

“U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours,” CENTCOM announced on July 28. “From February through April 2026, there were more than 600 attempted attacks on U.S. citizens and facilities by Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Iraq,” CENTCOM added. The US accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of directing the Iraqi militias to carry out the attacks.

The US has pressured Iraq’s new prime minister, Ali al Zaidi, to rein in and disarm the militias in his country. Over the last decade, the US has sanctioned numerous Iranian-backed Iraqi militias as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). In April, Washington also offered rewards for information on leaders of three powerful militias in Iraq.

The militias have not backed down from their threats and attacks. In July, Abu Ala al Walai, commander of Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada, one of the sanctioned militias, supported the Iranian-backed Houthis in their attempt to blockade Saudi Arabia. On July 27, Iraq’s Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani accused militias that are operating near Mosul of targeting Erbil. On July 27, the Saudi Foreign Ministry said that Saudi Arabia had been targeted by drone attacks from Iraq. On July 28, the Kingdom of Jordan also said it had intercepted drone attacks overnight. It did not specify the origin of the drones but noted they were downed in the eastern desert, which is near Iraq.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said on July 29 that at least 20 of its members had been killedin the retaliatory strikes by the US and Saudi Arabia. The PMF is an official Iraqi paramilitary organization that includes most of the Iranian-backed militias.

Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr condemned the US and Saudi attacks on Iraq while also condemning the militias. Sadr, who has been involved in politics for two decades and leads the Saraya al Salam militia, announced in May that the militia would accept government authority as part of Zaidi’s drive to disarm the militias. “I condemn the targeting of sacred Iraqi territories by all states and entities and condemn the actions of brazen militias to drag Iraq into a useless war,” Sadr said on July 29.

Iraqi Prime Minister al Zaidi convened “an emergency meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security today” in the wake of the US and Saudi strikes, according to Iraq’s Security Media Cell, the official public relations and press office for the Iraqi Armed Forces. Zaidi had returned to Baghdad overnight on July 28 after a trip to Turkey.

Several leading Iraqi politicians and entities condemned the US and Saudi strikes, including the office of the President of the Republic of Iraq, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Adnan Faihan al Dulami, former Speaker of Parliament Mohammed al Halbousi, former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani, head of the Badr Organization Hadi al Amiri, and the head of the Asaib Ahl al Haq militia Qais Khazali. In addition, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias that conducts military operations against US forces, said it would hold a meeting to discuss a response to the strikes.

Reporting from Israel, Seth J. Frantzman is an adjunct fellow at FDD and a contributor to FDD’s Long War Journal. He is the senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post, and author of The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza (2024).