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Convoy to Iran Raised Alarm — But Iraq’s Internal Split Is the Bigger Risk

World | Deutsche Welle

A filmed convoy of Iraqis crossing into Iran sparked fears Iraq might be pulled into the Iran war. Experts say the convoy itself won’t change the battlefield, but Iran-aligned militias operating inside Iraq are deepening a dangerous security split at home.

A convoy of trucks carrying Iraqis into Iran, reportedly on a "humanitarian mission," triggered concern that Iraq could be drawn into the fighting around Iran. Analysts say the convoy itself is unlikely to alter a war driven by airstrikes and missile fire, but the incident highlights a growing problem: Iran-allied militias inside Iraq are escalating tensions and threatening the state's stability.

The fighters belong to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a 238,000-strong umbrella set up in 2014 and now formally part of Iraq’s security forces. Some PMF factions are closely aligned with Iran and considered part of the so-called "axis of resistance," which also includes Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. Those groups have struck targets they say are linked to the US or Israel after US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.

Militia attacks have targeted diplomatic and military facilities, civilian infrastructure and oil sites. The US has responded with strikes on PMF positions. Baghdad held an emergency session ordering arrests of those attacking Iraqi institutions, but it also expanded the right of military units — including PMF elements — to act in "self-defense," a move critics say risks making Iraq a belligerent in the wider regional conflict.

The situation has already spilled into violent incidents inside Iraq. An American journalist, Shelley Kittleson, was seized in Baghdad this week; reports point to a PMF faction, Kataib Hezbollah, as likely involved. Militias have also attacked Iraqi state security bodies, underscoring a longer-running rivalry and a worrying fragmentation of Iraq’s security apparatus. Experts warn that without a new government and stronger accountability, these tensions will continue to produce kidnappings, coercion and attacks that weaken the state.

Source: World | Deutsche Welle

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