With Iraqi militia attacks on US forces, Iraq edges toward Iran war frontline

Peloni:  The current circumstances provide for an important opportunity to neutralize the Iranian aligned militias in Iraq, thus freeing Iraq from Iran’s control.

Iranian-backed militias have launched a series of drone attacks targeting US bases in Iraq, raising the question: has Iraq become the next frontline in the widening Iran war?

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN | 

The Iraqi pro-Iranian group Saraya Awliya Al Dam claims responsibility for attacks on a U.S. base near Iraq's Erbil airport. Screengrab via YoutubeThe Iraqi pro-Iranian group Saraya Awliya Al Dam claims responsibility for attacks on a U.S. base near Iraq’s Erbil airport on Mar 1, 2026. Screengrab via Youtube

Iranian-backed militias are targeting US forces in Iraq. The Iranian-linked group Saraya Awliya Al-Dam claimed to have targeted American bases in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of Northern Iraq, on March 1. Numerous reports in Erbil said they heard explosions in and around the airport. This appears to be how Iran is seeking to expand the war to Iraq.

Days prior to the US and Israeli strikes on Iran, there were rising tensions in Iraq. Iraq is a center of Iranian influence. There are tens of thousands of men who are members of Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. In addition, there are many Kurds from Iran who have fled to the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq and who are members of Iranian dissident groups.

Additionally, the US military has facilities in Iraq, primarily in the Kurdistan region. Therefore, Iraq has often been in the Iranian spotlight. As the war with Iran has unfolded between February 28 and March 1, Iraq increasingly looks like a frontline.

Let’s start with the situation before February 28. Iraq is home to many Iranian-backed militias called the Hashd al-Shaabi or Popular Mobilization Forces.

Many of these are also part of the Iraqi government’s paramilitary forces. The militias, such as Kataib Hezbollah, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, are mostly sanctioned by the US as terrorist groups. They serve Iran and the IRGC, but they are also ostensibly part of the Iraqi government. There are some 100,000 men in the militias.

US facilities in the Kurdistan region

In northern Iraq, there are Kurdish dissident groups who oppose the Iranian regime. These include the groups PDKI, PAK, PJAK, Komala, Khabat, and others. Five of the groups have joined a coalition, announced on February 23, against the Iranian regime. All the groups have armed, trained fighters. Some of these fighters have entered Iran to fight the regime.

The US has facilities in Iraq. It has used Erbil International Airport and also used a base called Harir. As US forces left most of the rest of Iraq between 2019 and 2026, they transitioned to the Kurdistan Region.

In the past, the Iranian-backed militias have targeted US forces in the Kurdistan region and targeted Iranian dissident groups. They have also targeted the airport and the Khor Mor gas field. As such, the Iranian-backed groups in Iraq are well known, and their targets are known.

One of the first incidents in Iraq during the recent war was strikes on Jurf al-Sakhar, a base of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. Kataib Hezbollah has forces in this site. It was apparently struck early in the day on February 28, causing several casualties.

Since the war began, some of the Iranian-backed militias have appeared mobilized to attack US forces in Iraq. Drones have also been launched against the Kurdistan region. The drones may come from Iran or from militias in Iraq.

On the evening of March 1 drones struck Erbil International airport. A headquarters of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, a Kurdish dissident group, was also attacked in Koya in northern Iraq. One of the militias in Iraq, saying they targeted US forces in Erbil, is the Saraya Awliya al-Dam militia group. The group says it is using drones in its attacks.

According to journalist Wladimir van Wilgenburg, one of the drone attacks on Erbil hit an area called 120 meters road. Erbil is a large city shaped like a wagon wheel, with roads arranged in concentric circles around it. It is the capital of the Kurdistan Region. It is also the center of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, which tends to be more critical of Iran.

The other major Kurdish party in Iraq, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, is seen as more warm towards Iran. Attacks on dissident groups in Iraq also continue, with claims that the PAK and Komala have been targeted. Sites in Sirgwerz and Surdash may have been targeted, locals say.

Meanwhile, it appears that the militias are also taking hits. Reports say that Kataib Hezbollah has been struck in Jurf al-Sakhar again, and possibly in Al-Qaim in western Iraq. The PMF’s 45th Brigade is in Al-Qaim on the border with Syria.

In another incident, sources told Rudaw media that “Shahraban district was bombed, causing casualties. A PMF source says two people were killed and three were injured. Perpetrator remains unclear.” The Iranian-backed militia Asaib Ahl al-Haq, which is a sanctioned terrorist group by the US, has also been targeted, reports say. Qais Khazali, the head of AAH, went to Lebanon seven years ago and threatened to help Hezbollah fight Israel.

The overall developments in Iraq show that the Iranian-backed militias are being operationalized by Iran as Iran takes losses. This was widely expected. These groups have done Iran’s dirty work before. Kataib Hezbollah killed three Americans in Jordan with a drone attack in 2024, for instance. These groups often work through cut-outs or umbrella groups that they create with new names to provide plausible deniability when they attack.

Iran and the militias may also be targeting Iranian dissident groups in the Kurdistan region, and also energy sites, and are clearly targeting US bases and the airport. This is designed to weaken the Kurdistan region, which is seen as a key US ally. Iran also accuses it of being pro-Israel.

March 2, 2026 | 1 Comment »

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  1. WAR UPDATE…

    Hezbollah launched a rocket barrage at Israel in the middle of the night.

    A huge mistake.

    Now, Israel must go in and liberate Southern Lebanon up to the Litani River.

    Our enemies never cease to amaze me. Israel warned Hezbollah clearly: do not join this war. Stay out of it.

    Israel and the United States are dismantling the Islamic regime of Iran. Do not sign your own death warrant.

    And yet Hezbollah decided to join in the war and fired.

    The IDF is now striking with full force in southern Beirut after Hezbollah claimed responsibility for last night’s rocket attack.

    Targeted eliminations of senior figures have already begun. Among those eliminated overnight: senior Hezbollah operatives, including the head of the organization’s faction in the Lebanese parliament. Following the strikes, there has been mass flight from Hezbollah’s Dahiya neighborhood stronghold in Beirut.

    Civilians are also fleeing southern Lebanon in large numbers.

    This was avoidable.

    Had Hezbollah chosen wisely and stayed out of Iran’s losing war, Israel would not be going back into Lebanon now. But they chose otherwise.

    In moments like this, I cannot help but think of the Torah’s language, God hardens the hearts of those bent on evil. They cannot help themselves. They attack, even when it guarantees their downfall.

    Hezbollah just gave Israel the justification, and the necessity, to do what should have been done last time.

    Let’s be honest about Lebanon.

    Lebanon is a failed state with constant ethnic/religious tension.

    Hezbollah is not some rogue militia operating in isolation. It has massive influence over the Lebanese government. Many soldiers in the Lebanese Army are Shiite, with brothers, cousins, neighbors, and lifelong friends inside Hezbollah. That is why the Lebanese government, despite promises, including commitments made to President Trump, has consistently failed to disarm Hezbollah.

    It was never going to happen. They can’t do it even if they wanted to.

    Lebanon is saturated with Iranian-backed Shiite jihadist infrastructure. As long as Hezbollah sits on our northern border, Israel’s civilians remain under direct threat.

    The only sustainable solution is strategic depth.

    Israel must reestablish a wide security belt along the entire border and push Hezbollah north of the Litani River , a natural defensive boundary.

    Not symbolic strikes. Not temporary deterrence. Not another round that ends with “understandings.”
    A permanent military reality with Israel remaining in Southern Lebanon forever, Jewish tribal lands of Dan and Naftali, applying Israeli sovereignty and resettling Jewish communities.

    For decades we have lived with a terror army entrenched in southern Lebanon, armed with tens of thousands of rockets aimed at our homes. Every Israeli child in Kiryat Shmona, Metula, and the Galilee has grown up under that shadow.

    That ends now.

    This is not about a “Greater Israel” fantasy. It is about survival.

    In the Arab Muslim jihadi Middle East, when enemies attack from territory they control, they forfeit their claim to that land as a staging ground for terror.

    The only language Muslim jihadi enemies understand is decisive defeat, the loss of land.

    If Hezbollah insists on using southern Lebanon as a launch pad for war against the Jewish state, then Israel must remove them, and the whole enemy population of jihadist from it, completely.

    And yes, that includes liberating the lands northward to the Litani River and restoring a Jewish security presence in the historic tribal lands of Dan and Naftali. Not out of imperial ambition, but because our enemies leave us no alternative.

    They are forcing this expansion.

    Israel did not seek this front. Hezbollah chose it.

    At the very moment that Israel and America are dismantling the Islamic regime of Iran, the head of the snake, Hezbollah decided to join the losing side. Strategically irrational. Politically suicidal.

    They just aligned themselves openly with a collapsing regime.

    They just handed Israel the moral and military justification to return and finish the job. They signed their death warrant.

    We tried deterrence.
    We tried warnings.
    We tried limited rounds.
    Now comes clarity.

    The Middle East is shifting. Iran is bleeding. Its proxies are exposed. The illusion of untouchability is gone.

    And in these redemptive times, something deeper is unfolding.

    The Jewish people are no longer a passive nation reacting to threats. We are shaping our destiny. When Amalek rises in each generation, we are commanded to confront it and eradicate it, not tolerate it or manage it.

    Hezbollah chose war.
    Now Israel must choose victory.

    Not half measures.
    Not temporary quiet.
    Not another “until next time.”

    To the Litani River.
    For security.
    For deterrence.
    For the future of Israel.
    For the fulfillment of our destiny as a sovereign people in our land.

    History is accelerating. Our enemies keep making catastrophic mistakes. And each time, they push us closer to fully securing our Biblical enlarged homeland.

    We did not choose this path.

    Our enemies choose it for us.

    But now that it is here, we must finish it.

    Strengthen your faith in God. Do not be embarrassed to voice truth and support Israel in doing what we must do.

    Am Yisrael Chai!!!

    Avi Abelow

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