State Dep’t Warns Americans of Threat Posed by Same Shi’ite Militias That Are Fighting ISIS in Iraq
By Patrick Goodenough | June 23, 2015 | 4:00 AM EDT
(CNSNews.com) – A travel warning for Iraq, updated by the State Department on Monday, continues to warn that “anti-U.S.” Shi’ite militias “may present a threat to U.S. citizens,” naming two groups that are playing a leading role in supporting the Iraqi government’s military campaign against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS/ISIL).
The two Iran-backed groups, Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asaib al-Haq (“League of the Righteous”), are at the heart of the Popular Mobilization Forces, set up last year to help Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government fight the Sunni jihadists of ISIS.
Although those groups and U.S. armed forces are both supporting Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s anti-ISIS mission, the State Department travel warning makes it clear the U.S. government still views the militias as dangerous and potentially hostile. References to the two first appeared in a travel warning issued at the end of April.
The travel warning describes the two as “anti-U.S. sectarian militia groups,” and says they “are operating throughout Iraq and may present a threat to U.S. citizens.”
“U.S. citizens in Iraq remain at high risk for kidnapping and terrorist violence,” the warning states. “Methods of attack have included roadside improvised explosive devices (IEDs) including explosively formed penetrators (EFPs), magnetic IEDs placed on vehicles, human and vehicle-borne IEDs, mines placed on or concealed near roads, mortars and rockets, and shootings using various direct fire weapons.”
“The U.S. government considers the potential threat to U.S. government personnel in Iraq to be serious enough to require them to live and work under strict security guidelines,” the notice says, replicating language used in earlier Iraq travel warnings.
It advises against “all but essential travel” to the country.
As part of his anti-ISIS strategy, President Obama recently authorized the deployment of an additional 450 American troops to Iraq, bringing the total number to around 3,550 across the country.
On Monday Bloomberg reported – citing unnamed senior administration officials – that U.S. troops and members of Shi’ite militias were both using the same military base, Taqqadum in Anbar province, where those 450 U.S. military advisors are bound.
Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asaib al-Haq both have American blood on their hands, having been responsible for some of the deadliest attacks on U.S. military personnel in the latter years of the Iraq war.
The Iranian-backed militias’ weapons of choice during those assaults in the 2007-2011 period included EFPs, one of the devices cited in the State Department’s travel warning. EFPs are a particularly lethal type of IED with shaped charges designed to pierce armored vehicles.
In 2009, the U.S. government designated Kata’ib Hezbollah as a foreign terrorist organization, accusing it of responsibility for numerous attacks against U.S. and Iraqi targets. Its leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was listed as a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist.” He is reported to be a close associate of the head of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps–Qods Force, Major General Qassem Soleimani.
The militia’s deadly campaign continued unabated during the closing years of the war: Six months before the formal withdrawal of the last U.S. troops at the end of 2011, Kata’ib Hezbollah claimed responsibility for that year’s costliest attack, killing five 1st Infantry Division soldiers in a June 6 assault on a base near Baghdad airport. A sixth soldier injured in the attack died at a Boston medical facility ten days later.
Following the U.S. withdrawal little was heard outside the region of Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asaib al-Haq until early 2013, when reports emerged that members of the militias were fighting in Syria in support of the Assad regime.
After ISIS seized territory across Iraq the Popular Mobilization Forces were formed in June 2014, with Kata’ib Hezbollah and Asaib al-Haq playing a key role.
Kata’ib Hezbollah leader Muhandis is reportedly at or close to the helm. Last week he participated in a meeting in Tehran between Abadi and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, according to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies’ Long War Journal.
‘Tacit accommodation of Iran’s strategic aim’
In its annual terrorism report, published last week, the State Department accused Kata’ib Hezbollah of worsening sectarian divisions in Iraq, and of committing serious abuses against Sunni civilians.
The report also stated that the militia “has not conducted an attack on U.S. interests since July 2011.”
In reaction to the claims in Monday’s Bloomberg report Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a U.S. Army veteran with combat service in both Iraq and Afghanistan, criticized the administration’s approach.
“When I was a soldier fighting in Iraq, Iran supplied the most advanced, most lethal roadside bombs used against coalition forces. Many American soldiers lost their lives to Iran’s proxies and Iranian-supplied bombs,” he said in a statement.
“Further, Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism and has been attacking the United States for decades. It’s deeply troubling that the president now finds it acceptable to share a military base with this enemy, even while we are attempting to negotiate a deal to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.”
“This report is a stark and nearly absurd demonstration of the Obama administration’s tacit accommodation of Iran’s strategic aim of extending its influence in Iraq,” Cotton said.
In a recent policy analysis, five leading U.S. Mideast experts questioned the wisdom of partnering with Iran and Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias in the fight against ISIS.
“The most powerful elements in Iran today still see the United States as their enemy. This is not simply because of a conspiratorial mind-set about American determination to subvert the Islamic Republic, but also because they see America as the main impediment to their domination of the region,” wrote former Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey, former Mideast peace negotiator Dennis Ross, Washington Institute for Near East Policy executive director Robert Satloff, and former national security advisors Samuel Berger and Stephen Hadley.
“Even if the U.S. seeks to reassure them about its aims, they are highly unlikely to believe it unless the U.S. is prepared to acquiesce in their regional hegemony,” they said.
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