Iranian proxy in Iraq vows to expand attacks on US bases in the region

Latest threat comes from armed faction that has claimed responsibility for attacks in past two years

Iraqis rally in Baghdad in January 2021 to mark the first anniversary of the killing of Quds Force commander Gen Qassem Suleimani and Iraqi militia commander Abu Mahdi Al Muhandis in a US drone attack. ReutersShow less

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A shadowy Shiite militia in Iraq has threatened to strike US military bases across the Arabian Peninsula, expanding the number of recent attacks on American troops by Iran-backed military groups.

US forces in Iraq and Syria have faced a surge in rocket and drone attacks due to Washington's support for Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip after Hamas operatives killed more than 1,400 people, most of them civilians, in cross-border raids on October 7.

The Israeli attacks have killed more than 6,500 people so far, most of them civilians, leading to widespread anger across the Middle East.

“We affirm that our patience has limits,” Alwiyat Al Waad Al Haq – Abnaa Al Jazeera Al Arabiya (AWH), or the True Pledge Brigades – The Sons of the Arabian Peninsula, said on Telegram late on Tuesday.

The statement went on to say the group considered US bases in the region as targets.

AWH is considered to be one of many groups created by Tehran, comprising trusted fighters from its most powerful militias in Iraq.

The small, elite and fiercely loyal bands are highly trained in drone warfare, surveillance and online propaganda, and answer directly to officers in the Quds Force, an arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that controls allied militias abroad.

These militias have been responsible for a series of increasingly sophisticated attacks against the US and its allies in Iraq and abroad.

AWH claimed responsibility for drone attacks on the Arabian peninsula in 2021 and 2022.

There had been a lull in attacks on US forces in Iraq, posted there as part of the international coalition to defeat ISIS, after Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al Sudani took office last October.

Mr Al Sudani was nominated by the Co-ordination Framework, the largest political group in the Iraqi Parliament comprising powerful Iran-backed Shiite militias and political parties.

The resurgence of attacks is embarrassing his government, which has been under pressure from Washington and its allies to rein in the militias and protect US forces and foreign diplomatic missions.

Mr Al Sudani denounced the attacks on Monday and ordered Iraq's security forces to clamp down on rogue militias linked to Iran. However, the government is not expected to do much to deter them.

On Tuesday, the Pentagon said American and allied forces in Iraq and Syria had been the targets of drone and rocket attacks at least 13 times in the past week.

“Between October 17 and the 24, US and coalition forces have been attacked at least 10 separate times in Iraq and three separate times in Syria,” Pentagon spokesman Brig Gen Pat Ryder said, referring to the international coalition against ISIS.

The attacks were conducted using a “mix of one-way attack drones and rockets”, he said, describing the tally of the strikes as “initial numbers”.

He did not identify the groups responsible but said they were “supported by the IRGC and the Iranian regime”.

The US Central Command told NBC News two dozen American military personnel were wounded in an attack on Al Tanf base in Syria. The injuries were minor, the news outlet said.

Many of the attacks have been claimed by a group calling itself the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, a network of powerful Iraqi Shiite militias aligned with Iran.

“What we are seeing is the prospect for more significant escalation against US forces and personnel across the region in the very near term coming from Iranian proxy forces and, ultimately, from Iran,” Brig Gen Ryder said.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin said last week he had put more forces on standby, ready to be stationed in the region, “as part of prudent contingency planning, to increase their readiness and ability to quickly respond as required”.

The Pentagon chief also redirected the movement of the USS Dwight D Eisenhower carrier strike group to the US Central Command's area of responsibility.

Washington had earlier sent the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean.

The US has about 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq as part of efforts to combat ISIS, which once held significant territory in each country but was pushed back by local forces with coalition support.