Iranian-backed militias are in America’s sights
The larger context is that attacks on US forces in Iraq that continued this year after the Biden administration came into office. This problem goes back to May 2019 when the Trump administration sent Mike Pompeo to the region to warn of threats coming from Iran’s role in Iraq and the Gulf. Tensions grew when Iran downed a US drone and there were attacks on Saudi Arabia from Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq. Iranian-backed militias in Iraq began using 107mm rockets to strike at US facilities in Baghdad, Taji, Balad, Qayarra and others. In the fall of 2019, pro-Iran groups linked to the Popular Mobilization Units and Badr Organization accused Israel of airstrikes. Attacks increased and the US eventually responded in December 2019 with airstrikes and killed IRGC Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani and Kataib Hezbollah leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Iran retaliated with an attack on the Al-Asad base in Iraq and the US started to withdraw forces from almost all its facilities in Iraq except Union III near the embassy and airport in Baghdad and Erbil in the Kurdistan region.
Iran then shifted its strategy to increasingly target Al-Asad the airport and Embassy more, and then Erbil last fall. In early 2021, Iran used rockets and drones to attack, which constituted a major development and represented a new threat. A hangar was damaged at Al-Asad base in May by another Iranian drone supplied to pro-Iranian militias in Iraq.
