Promises from Iran-backed militias in Iraq can never be taken at face value. Asaib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), an Iran-backed militia in Iraq designated by Washington as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)...
After six months of internal discord against the background of competing foreign interests, Iraq has formed its new government, ending the stasis that followed the November 2025 election. Prime Minister...
More than five months after its national elections, Iraq may finally have a new leader. On April 27, Iraqi President Nizar Amedi named Ali al-Zaidi,...
As northeastern Syria reels from the Syrian government’s offensive into areas held by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), detained Islamic State (ISIS) fighters are being transferred to Iraq...
The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah has said it will not disarm in the wake of reports that suggest armed militias in Iraq will place their weapons under state control. “The Iraqi group...
The voting is done in Iraq, but that doesn’t mean there will be a new government anytime soon. The preliminary results of the November 11 election didn’t contain shocking conclusions, but neither did...
Now that voters have cast their ballots in Iraq’s 2025 parliamentary elections, the country is entering the government formation phase, which culminates in the selection of the prime minister...
Iraqis voted in a parliamentary election on November 11, the country’s sixth since the toppling of former President Saddam Hussein in 2003. The election, held as security forces were deployed...
Iraqis head to the polls Nov. 11 to elect 329 parliament members for a four-year term, marking the seventh free election since Saddam Hussein’s 2003 fall. Candidates are treading carefully, pledging...
On a recent trip to Israel, Mark Walker, President Trump’s nominee to be Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, did not mince words about the administration’s priorities. “We want...
The US Treasury Department added Kataib Imam Ali (the “Imam Ali Brigades”) to the list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists on June 12, 2025. Kataib Imam Ali is one of the many Iraqi...
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani announced a new alliance, the Reconstruction and Development Coalition, for the country’s November 2025 elections. Sudani is currently part of the...
Esmail Qaani, head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF), traveled to Iraq on May 14. He met with Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al Araji after arriving...
A possible visit by Syria’s new transitional president, Ahmad al Sharaa, is causing controversy in Iraq. Several key Shiite political and militia leaders have come out against the visit and called on...
The Coordination Framework, the ruling Shiite alliance in Iraq, announced its intention for parties to run on separate lists in the November 11 election but reunite the coalition under the same...
Due to Iraq’s position in the region, the armed paramilitaries increasingly present a challenge for stability.
Pro-Iranian militias from the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) took part in Quds Day events in Iraq on March 28.
Delegations and leaders of pro-Iranian Iraqi militias traveled to Lebanon for the funeral of the late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on February 23.
On February 18, Falih al Fayyadh, the chairman of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), visited Tehran and met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, according to a report in Iranian state media.
Iran’s 45-year trajectory from the Khomeini revolution to its current challenge to Israel, the West, and the Rules-Based International System (RBIS) led to developing and solidifying its “Axis...