Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF)

Iranian-backed militias may be weighing disarmament amid Iraq political shift

US Envoy to Iraq, Mark Savaya, posted on X overnight between December 21 and 22 that the steps being taken by “armed groups” in Iraq are “welcome and encouraging.”

|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi attends a military parade for the members of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) marking its eighth anniversary, in Diyala province, Iraq July 23, 2022.
Muhannad al-Khazraji, the recently elected member of parliament, had run under the banner of the Badr Organization, which is a large pro-Iranian group in Iraq.

New Iraqi lawmaker ousted after creating fake PMF brigade, violating election laws

Muhannad al-Khazraji, the recently elected member of parliament, had run under the banner of the Badr Organization, which is a large pro-Iranian group in Iraq.

|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN
Mourners attend the funeral of Haider al-Moussawi, head of the security unit in the Shi'ite armed group Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and senior Hezbollah figure Abu Ali Khalil, who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on Tehran, amid the Iran-Israel conflict, in Baghdad, Iraq, June 22, 2025.

State Dept. designates four Iran-backed Iraqi militias as Foreign Terrorist Orgs.

The State Department designated Hakarat al-Nujaba, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Hakarat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, and Kataib al-Imam Ali, all part of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces.

|ByJAMES GENN
Smoke rises after a drone attack targeted oil facilities in the Zakho area of Iraq's Kurdistan region, Iraq July 16, 2025.

New drone strike near Erbil adds to growing attacks on Kurdistan region - analysis

A drone crashed near Makhmour in the latest attack on Iraq’s Kurdistan region, as officials blame Iran-aligned groups for a wave of 22 strikes.

|BySETH J. FRANTZMAN