Recent drone attacks in Kurdistan are once again bringing the issue of Iraq’s Iran-backed militias to the fore.
On July 30, a kamikaze drone crashed near the town of Makhmour in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region. Kurdish counter-terrorism forces said that there were no casualties in the drone crash. The drone incident is one of nearly twenty attacks by similar kamikaze drones that have targeted energy infrastructure in northern Iraq during July.
The drone attacks have angered the officials in Washington; Baghdad has not reined in the threat. On July 22, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. He noted the drone attacks had targeted “energy infrastructure, including those operated by US companies, and stressed the importance of the Iraqi government holding the perpetrators accountable and preventing future attacks,” a State Department read-out said. Rubio also emphasized the importance of Baghdad paying salaries to people in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and the need to resume oil exports via an Iraq-Turkey pipeline.
The drone attacks are an example of how Baghdad is unable to control armed groups within the country. The Kurdistan Regional Government authorities have blamed Iranian-backed militias within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) for the attacks. Rubio appears to agree with this assessment. The State Department noted that he “reiterated serious U.S. concerns with the Popular Mobilization Commission (PMC) bill currently pending in the Council of Representatives (COR), emphasizing that any such legislation would institutionalize Iranian influence and armed terrorist groups undermining Iraq’s sovereignty.” The bill may empower the militias that comprise the PMF, which enjoys backing from both Iraq and Iran.
For years, the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq have taken advantage of their dual role, as paramilitaries and free-wheeling militias, to carry out attacks in Iraq and the wider region. For instance, Kataib Hezbollah, which is one of the most powerful of the militias, was blamed for killing three American service members in Jordan in January 2024. In March 2023, Kataib Hezbollah also kidnapped Princeton researcher Elizabeth Tsurkov in Baghdad. The militia is still holding her in captivity. Iraqi militias have also been behind attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria, and have also launched drones targeting Israel.
Iraq has the power to rein in the militias, but it has refused to do so for years. The militias grew in power during the war on ISIS when Iraq needed manpower. A fatwa issued by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, an Iraqi Shia cleric, encouraged young men to join the militias. When the war on ISIS was over, the militias refused to go home. Instead, they began to infiltrate state organs.
Iraq is being put on notice that it needs to do more. US Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) wrote on July 29 that “Iranian militias launch more drones today against our appreciated friends in the KRG. Sadly[,] taxpayer dollars fund Baghdad, which fund terrorist militias[,] which attack the KRG, as well as US troops, and work with the head of the snake Iran to destabilize Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen. This cannot be tolerated anymore and I will work toward PROHIBITION on funding to Iraq while it funds these terrorist militias…[sic]”
The militia attacks on energy infrastructure in the Kurdistan region of Iraq appear to come as Iraq is also trying to pressure the region regarding salaries and energy contracts. It also comes after Iran fought a 12-day war with Israel. In this hostile context, Iran and its allies in Baghdad want to use the militias to threaten what they see as US partners in Kurdistan.
There are US troops in the Kurdistan region as part of the Combined Joint Task Force Inherent Resolve, the anti-ISIS mission. The mission has a new commander who met with Iraq’s prime minister on July 21. It should be in Baghdad’s interest to stop the militia attacks and work with US forces. However, Iraqi authorities have so far shown they are not ready to confront these groups.
In the wake of Iran’s drubbing in the 12-day conflict with Israel, and also after US airstrikes brought Tehran to a ceasefire, it is clear that Iran is concerned about its role in the region. Iran has seen setbacks in Syria, with the fall of the Assad regime, and also in Lebanon, with the weakening of Hezbollah. Iran doesn’t want to see its proxies in Iraq have their wings clipped.
Nevertheless, there is an opportunity at this juncture. A weaker Iran cannot hope to control Iraq as it has in the past. It also knows its militias cannot dominate Iraq forever. The militias aim to assume a more official, national guard-style role, complete with salaries and retirement benefits. However, for this to occur, Baghdad and Tehran would need to stop using them as proxies, which is precisely what makes them useful.
About the Author: Seth Frantzman
Seth Frantzman is the author of Drone Wars: Pioneers, Killing Machines, Artificial Intelligence and the Battle for the Future (Bombardier 2021) and an adjunct fellow at The Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He is the acting news editor and senior Middle East correspondent and analyst at The Jerusalem Post. Seth has researched and covered conflict and developments in the Middle East since 2005 with a focus on the war on ISIS, Iranian proxies, and Israeli defense policy. He covers Israeli defense industry developments for Breaking Defense and previously was Defense News’ correspondent in Israel. Follow him on X: @sfrantzman.
Image: Anelo / Shutterstock.com.
