Iraqi Shia militias

Iraqi Shia militias are a constellation of armed groups drawn from Iraq's majority-Shia population, most operating under or alongside the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) — a state-recognised paramilitary network formally integrated into Iraq's security apparatus after the 2014 campaign against ISIS. The major factions include Kata'ib Hezbollah, Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq, the Badr Organization, and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba. All maintain documented ideological and operational links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), receiving funding, training, weapons, and political direction through the IRGC's Quds Force. They emerged primarily from the post-2003 US-occupation period, shaped by Lebanon's Hezbollah as an organisational model.

In the current conflict, Iraqi Shia militias opened a fifth operational front in early March 2026 when Saraya Awliya al-Dam claimed a drone attack on US forces at Baghdad International Airport. Prior to the attack, militia groups had issued formal retaliation threats against US assets in Iraq, though operational action lagged several days behind the rhetoric. The IDF subsequently struck the al-Shalamcheh Iraq-Iran border crossing in April, targeting logistics corridors connecting IRGC supply lines through Iraqi territory to militia networks. Israeli covert bases discovered in Iraq's western desert in May 2026 — near Najaf and Karbala — served in part as staging facilities for operations against IRGC-linked logistics routes.

The militias occupy a structurally ambiguous position: formally incorporated into the Iraqi state via the PMF while operating an independent command chain answering to Tehran. Baghdad publicly denies authorising foreign military operations on Iraqi soil — including Israeli base activity — while the militias operate with de facto impunity in southern and western Iraq. Iran's exemption of Iraq from Hormuz toll restrictions in April 2026, citing 'brotherly ties', reflects Tehran's dependency on Iraqi political cover for militia operations rather than a strategic concession.