Iran-backed militias undermine Iraq's reputation, stability with smuggling operations

Many in Iraq are concerned that Kataib Hizbullah and other Iran-backed Iraqi militias will destroy their country's economy and reputation in service of Iran's regional agenda, as Lebanese Hizbullah has done in Lebanon.

In Iraq and Lebanon, heavily armed Iran-backed militias operate outside state control, engage in illicit activities such as drug and arms smuggling, and wield outsized influence in the national decision-making process.

The activities of these militias pose an active threat to the stability of both countries, Iraqi officials told Al-Mashareq.

Of particular concern is their meddling in regional conflicts without state authority, staging terror attacks from the countries where they operate, and their cross-border drug and arms smuggling.

Smuggling activities are conducted on a routine basis, by land and air.

In the aftermath of February's deadly earthquake, Iran took advantage of the catastrophe to fly in shipments of military equipment and weapons, under the pretext of delivering medicines and food, Reuters reported on April 12.

Hundreds of shipments carrying military equipment and weapons were flown in to airports in Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia from Iran over a seven-week period following the earthquake, the report said.

Iran also has shipped ammunition, missiles and drones in "hundreds" of trucks by land to its regional proxies in Syria under the pretext of delivering humanitarian aid, Iraqi officials told Al-Mashareq.

These land shipments were handled by influential Iraqi militias including Kataib Hizbullah, which has a presence in the Iraqi border town of al-Qaim, directly across the frontier from the Syrian town of Albu Kamal.

But they have not gone unnoticed, officials said, pointing out that leaked reports detailing these illicit activities show that the United States is tracking the activities and movements of these armed groups.

Tehran's smuggling networks

Iran's self-described "Axis of Resistance" has been used over the years to refer to the alliance between Tehran and its affiliates, including Kataib Hizbullah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq in Iraq, Hizbullah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen.

These groups work on several fronts to further Iran's regional agenda, and in return, Tehran provides its "axis" partners with money, weapons and support.

Kataib Hizbullah has been a key player in the cross-border smuggling between Iraq and Syria as it has close ties with Lebanese Hizbullah, an "axis" partner that operates in Syria and is a mainstay of regional drug-trafficking operations.

Kataib Hizbullah also co-ordinates with Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) logistics units that transport military equipment to Syria and Lebanon.

These include Unit 190, the best-known IRGC Quds Force (IRGC-QF) smuggling entity, which is headed by Behnam Shahriyari, who has been blacklisted by the United States and European Union.

Shahriyari operates a global network of front companies that provide funding to the IRGC via the smuggling of oil, weapons and contraband, and has close relations with Lebanese Hizbullah and the Houthis.

According to intelligence sources, Unit 190 has in recent years transferred thousands of tonnes of weapons to Iran's proxies, Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, Hizbullah in Lebanon and Houthis in Yemen.

Hizbullah's Unit 4400 (also known as Unit 108) reportedly facilitates the transfer of weapons, technology and other support from Iran, across Syria to Lebanon.

The IRGC's Unit 400, headed by Col. Hamed Abdullahian, an IRGC intelligence officer and a former escort of the late IRGC-QF commander Qassem Soleimani, also is engaged in shipping weapons.

Unit 400 has been accused of assassinating Iraqi journalists and activists who are opposed to Iran's agenda.

Unit 18000, a paramilitary spy unit led by Hassan Mahdavi, reportedly organised shipments of military components from Iran to Syria aboard planes that landed in airports in Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia.

There have been reports in June of a new unit (Unit 700) headed by a former IRGC Quds Force official, Gal Farsat, that is engaged in supplying weapons and equipment to Iranian militias in Syria and Hizbullah in Lebanon.

Harmful to Iraqi interests

Smuggling weapons is part of an Iranian strategy to remain a threatening force, political analyst Tareq al-Shammari told Al-Mashareq, accusing Iran of arming its forces in Syria and attempting to strengthen its proxies in the region.

"The logistical support that Kataib Hizbullah and other Iraqi militias provide to Iran in shipping weapons and drugs is very dangerous and harmful to Iraq's interests," he said.

They put Iraq at risk of being dragged into conflicts outside its borders, he said, and are harmful to its current efforts to restore security in the aftermath of the war against the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS) and domestic protests.

Additionally, he explained, "serving Iran's agenda doesn't conform with the key goal of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's fatwa", that urged Iraqis to volunteer in the ranks of the military to fend off the danger from ISIS.

"Such a fatwa wasn't issued to undermine the country's sovereignty or destroy it, which is exactly what the Iran-allied militias are doing now," he said.

It "did not grant sharia-based permission for the establishment of factions that owe their loyalty to foreign actors, act as rivals to the state and violate the law", Iraqi political analyst Ahmed Shawki said.

After ISIS was defeated in Iraq, Iran-backed militias began to expand their influence and have subsequently become a threat in their own right.

In addition to Kataib Hizbullah, these militias include Asaib Ahl al-Haq, Harakat al-Nujaba, the Badr Organisation and Sayyed al-Shuhada Brigades, and others who follow the orders of al-Wali al-Faqih (Iranian leader Ali Khamenei).

Iraq must curb militia activities

Kataib Hizbullah continues to run smuggling activities via illegal land crossings between Iraq and Syria, such as al-Sekak crossing in the Deir Ezzor border town of al-Hari.

In addition to weapons, the militia also monopolises the trade in illegal drugs with the help of Lebanon's Hizbullah, and boosts its coffers by imposing tariffs on livestock, food commodities and tobacco smugglers between the two countries.

Iran-backed militias play a pivotal role in supporting Iran's expansionist agenda, and are actually undermining national and regional security, Arab Tribal Council secretary-general Sheikh Thaer al-Bayati told Al-Mashareq.

"Arms smuggling and drug trafficking are among the many illegal activities of these chaotic groups that follow IRGC orders and implement its malicious plans and agenda at the expense of Iraqis' interests," he added.

Iraq must curb the activities of these militias, which are collectively consolidating Iran's interests in the region at the expense of countries such as Iraq, he said.