Hashd al-Shaabi

U.S. Officials: Iran-Allied Shiite Militias in Iraq ‘Extort and Terrorize’ Religious Minorities

WASHINGTON, DC — Some factions of a Baghdad-sanctioned organization of mainly Iranian-backed Shiite militias are engaging in egregious violations such as torture, extrajudicial detentions, rape, extortion, and kidnappings in northern Iraq’s Nineveh province, where persecuted religious minorities like Christians are struggling to recover from the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) atrocities, top U.S. officials said this week.

TOPSHOT - David Dosha, the priest of the Church of Mart Shmony, located in the Christian I

Iraq: Iran-Allied Militia Leader Serving as Top PM Adviser

Iraq has reappointed the former chief of the Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) to his dual posts as chairman of the Shiite militias and national security adviser to the prime minister, the Associated Press (AP) reported Tuesday, noting that the Tehran-allied militiaman has also been nominated to head the country’s powerful interior ministry.

Popular Mobilization Forces parade in Basra, 340 miles (550 km) southeast of Baghdad, Iraq

Iraq: Clashes Continue Between Kurds, Iran-Allied Shiite Militias

Tensions between Kurds and Iranian-backed Shiite militias sanctioned by Baghdad continue to intensify in northern Iraq, prompting young Kurdish men to fight back “the bullies” with RPGs and machine guns in the latest incident in a wave of clashes between the two groups, reports Kurdistan24.

Iraqi military forces and Peshmerga troops, pictured, clashed Thursday at a border crossin

Iran-Allied Militia Attacks Kurdish Peshmerga in Iraq

A group affiliated with a predominantly Shiite paramilitary force backed by Iran and legally operating as a component of the Iraqi military has reportedly bombed Kurdish Peshmerga positions in northern Iraq’s Sinjar region, Rudaw reports.

TOPSHOT - An Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighter, next to an Iraqi Kurds flag, holds a positio