HeavenlyPossumMar 13

During Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, many Iraqi Shi’ites fled to Iran, where the Iranian government organized them into political parties and militias.

When the US overthrew Saddam in 2003, these Iran-backed parties and militias returned to Iraq, where they rapidly asserted themselves in Iraq’s politics, economy, and security.

They fought the nascent Iraqi government; they fought US forces; they fought the Kurds and Sunni Arabs; and they fought each other. But, in 2014, they mobilized to fight off ISIS after the Iraq army basically collapsed and were reorganized as the Hashd al-Shabi or Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popular_Mobilization_Forces

Popular Mobilization Forces - Wikipedia

Show threadHeavenlyPossumMar 13

Since then, they have played an even bigger role in Iraqi politics and security, effectively emerging as a parallel army. Although they are officially a part of the Iraqi Security Forces and ostensibly under the command of the prime minister, they’re also loyal to Iran’s Islamic Republic and to their own political leaders. They’re also heavily involved in both formal economic activity and crime.

These are not *good actors* just because they opposed the US military occupation of Iraq. They are thuggishly reactionary forces, Shia supremacists devoted to both their own parochial interests and a broader project of clerical rule. They brutally suppressed protests in 2019. They committed torture and mass murder against Sunni Arabs in Iraq and in Syria, where they were allies of Bashar al-Asad’s dictatorship.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/10/27/iraq-protesters-killed-teargas-canisters

Iraq: Protesters Killed by Teargas Canisters

Iraqi security forces fired tear gas canisters into crowds, killing at least eight protesters, during demonstrations in Baghdad on October 25, 2019.

Human Rights Watch
Show threadHeavenlyPossumMar 13

So it should come as no surprise that, in response to the US and Israeli attack against Iran, the PMF have mobilized to fight US and other military forces still in Iraq, where they’ve been combatting the local remnants of ISIS.

And…I’ve seen virtually no news coverage of it. It’s the weirdest thing. Every once in a while, I’ll catch a mention of missiles fired at the airport in Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, where US forces have operated for years. Or a mention of an attack against a US diplomatic facility in Baghdad. But, otherwise, virtually nothing.

And then I’ll stumble across some footage of, like, an Apache or an A-10 strafing a PMF base and it’s clear that the fighting is actually pretty substantive.

https://www.reddit.com/r/CombatFootage/s/eJYzE9zmRH

Show threadHeavenlyPossumMar 13

It’s the weirdest damn thing. There is a lot of global attention on the war with Iran and the spillover into Iran’s neighbors. Iraq is not a minor country. The fighting does not seem to be all that peripheral. The PMF is not some obscure entity but rather, at least formally, a part of the armed forces of a country trying desperately to remain neutral in order to survive.

And yet I can barely find any news stories in English on this. The PMF (or maybe Iran) just attacked a base and killed at least one French soldier there. This is a big deal. But I can find more footage of drone strikes in Dubai, where the government is arresting people for filming attacks, than I can of Iraq.

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/03/13/french-soldier-killed-in-attack-in-iraq-s-kurdistan-region-confirms-macron_6751397_4.html

French soldier killed and several wounded in attack in Iraq's Kurdistan region, confirms Macron

The French military earlier said six soldiers had been injured in a drone attack on troops carrying out a training exercise. A member of the armed forces 'died for France during an attack in the Erbil region of Iraq,' Emmanuel Macron posted on X.

Le Monde
Show threadHeavenlyPossum

Like…the US is engaged in this parallel conflict in Iraq, related to but separate from its war on Iran, that has the potential to escalate into an Iraqi civil war or a US-Iraq war, and there is virtually no attention on it. The PMF number at least in the tens of thousands and possibly into the hundreds of thousands. They have drones and missiles. They can cause genuine damage.

I find this both frustrating and kind of mind boggling.

Mar 13 at 8:09pmWeb
Show threadHeavenlyPossumMar 14

Building on this thread, I’m seeing reports that the C-RAM at the US embassy in Baghdad was destroyed.

A C-RAM (counter rocket, artillery, and mortar) is a big-ass gattling gun that uses radar to track and destroy incoming munitions. Originally developed by the navy to protect its ships, the C-RAM was adapted to defend installations in 2004, when the US forces and bases in Iraq faced the constant threat of attack by Iraqi insurgents. It’s the primary defense that these facilities have against the sorts of small and improvised munitions that the PMF or Iranians are likely to throw at them.

Destroying the C-RAM means either that the PMF got really lucky, or they overwhelmed it with munitions. Either way, it also means that US facilities in Baghdad are dramatically more vulnerable to stand-off rocket and UAV attacks.

https://web-cdn.bsky.app/profile/vcdgf555.bsky.social/post/3mgylodsgjk2k

Evergreen Intel (@vcdgf555.bsky.social)

C-RAM in US embassy compound in Baghdad has seen better days. Radar is fine. [contains quote post or other embedded content]

Bluesky Social
Show threadQybatMar 14
@HeavenlyPossum The US military aren't complete idiots. I'm sure all the people of actual importance have already located to safer places, and only the most expendable staff are living in the bulls-eye of the dart board.
Show threadHeavenlyPossumMar 14

@Qybat

That’s not quite the point I’m making here, which is that the intensity of the fighting in Iraq is vastly higher than the coverage of it would suggest. I’ve never seen an actual shooting war involving the US get swept under the rug like this before.

Show threadQuasitMar 14
@HeavenlyPossum 🔻💥🔻💥🔻💥
Show threadMix Mistress Alice6d ago
@HeavenlyPossum Marcon, USA paillasson.
Show threadGary HoustonMar 14

@HeavenlyPossum Italy pulled out its troops after being hit by one drone, which isn't exactly a large-scale attack, but presumably they didn't want to sit around like sitting ducks.

"Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said it was not clear where the drone had come from but added that it was probably ​the work of pro-Iranian ​militia based in ⁠Iraq."

https://www.msn.com/en-my/news/other/italy-pulls-its-troops-out-of-iraq-following-attack-on-its-base/ar-AA1YzeFX

MSN