U.S., Saudi Strike Iran-Backed Militias

PHOTO CAPTION: Damage at a site belonging to Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) following airstrikes that the PMF said were carried out by U.S. and Saudi forces, in Bartella, Nineveh province, Iraq, July 29, 2026. Picture taken with a mobile phone. REUTERS/Khalid Al-Mousily

DUBAI, July 29 — U.S. and Saudi strikes on Iran-backed Shi’ite armed groups in Iraq have renewed attention on the militias that hold major political and military influence in the country.

The United States and Saudi Arabia said the groups were responsible for drone attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

The militias rose to prominence after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, as Iran steadily expanded its influence in Iraq’s politics and security institutions.

Backed financially and militarily by Tehran, the groups have grown into powerful forces that can rival Iraq’s national army in firepower.

They are also deeply embedded in Iraq’s political, economic and social life, building business networks and gaining representation in parliament and government.

The groups are part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella organization of about 10 hardline Shi’ite armed factions.

Together, they command about 50,000 fighters and possess arsenals that include long-range missiles and anti-aircraft weapons, according to two security officials who monitor their activities.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a key part of Iran’s regional network of proxy forces, has said it carried out dozens of missile and drone attacks on Israel and on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the Gaza war began in 2023.

The Trump administration has pressed Iraqi leaders to rein in the armed groups.

Kataib Hezbollah

Kataib Hezbollah is the most powerful faction within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

The group, one of the militias closest to Iran, was founded in the mid-2000s by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.

Muhandis was killed in a U.S. air strike in Baghdad in 2020 along with Iranian Major-General Qassem Soleimani.

Kataib Hezbollah quickly became known for deadly attacks on military and diplomatic targets, using methods that included sniper fire, rockets, mortars and roadside bombs.

According to U.S. National Intelligence, the group has as many as 10,000 members. Iraqi officials and members of the group have said it also has drones, rockets and short-range ballistic missiles.

The United States has struck Kataib Hezbollah positions, bases and training and logistics hubs several times over the years.

The group has also rejected Iraqi government calls to halt attacks on U.S. forces.

During Syria’s civil war, it fought alongside other Shi’ite militias against mostly Sunni rebels.

Kataib Hezbollah has also said it carried out high-profile kidnappings. Iraqi officials said the militia abducted Elizabeth Tsurkov, an Israeli-Russian doctoral student, during her 2023 research trip to Iraq.

Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq

Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, also known as the League of the Righteous, is led by Qais Al-Khazali.

Born in 1974 in Baghdad’s impoverished Sadr City district, Khazali has tried to soften his image as he seeks to become one of Iraq’s leading politicians.

He emerged as a prominent figure in the chaotic period after the U.S. invasion.

In 2007, American forces arrested him over his alleged role in an attack on a government compound in Karbala in southern Iraq that killed five U.S. soldiers.

He was released after about three years in an American prison in Iraq.

Khazali previously fought U.S. troops as part of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army before forming his own armed group in 2006.

Like many militia fighters, he later went to northern Iraq to fight Islamic State after the group seized large areas of the country and imposed a reign of terror in 2014.

In 2020, Khazali said there was no longer any justification for thousands of U.S. troops to remain in Iraq after the defeat of Islamic State, and that they would be an occupying force if they stayed.

Although he remains a militia commander, Khazali did not take part in attacks on U.S. military facilities during the Gaza war and was involved with Iraq’s education ministry.

He has denied that his militia was responsible for the deaths of thousands of people during Iraq’s civil war in 2006 and 2007.

(Source: Reuters)