Iran-backed militias across the Middle East have intensified attacks against Israel, the United States and their allies, retaliating for the joint US-Israeli offensive against Tehran. Iraq has emerged as a key front in this escalating proxy conflict, with militia groups launching dozens of attacks since the war began on Saturday, targeting Israel and US bases in Jordan and Iraq.
The militias, recruited from Iraq's Shia community and following orders from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, have also targeted infrastructure of Iranian-Kurdish opposition groups in northern Iraq. In recent days, drones and missiles have been launched from sites in Iran's western desert at targets in Jordan, while a missile was fired into Kuwait. The US base at Erbil airport has been repeatedly attacked.
Iraq's state-run news agency reported that an attempt to launch missiles from Basra province, intended to target a neighbouring country, was thwarted when security forces seized a mobile launch platform carrying two ready-to-fire missiles. A spokesperson for Israel's military confirmed that drones had been launched from Iraq, though not in significant numbers.
In a clandestine counteroffensive, militia bases south of Baghdad and near Nasariya and Basra have been hit by small suicide drones, reportedly killing 15 fighters, mostly from Kataib Hezbollah. On Thursday, Kataib Hezbollah said one of its commanders was killed in a strike in southern Iraq. The group's Jurf al-Nasr base has been repeatedly attacked since the weekend, and large explosions have been reported at militia bases in Anbar province.
Unexplained blasts have immobilised Iraqi government radar systems that monitor air traffic through Iraqi airspace. Former senior Israeli intelligence officials said the suggestion that Israeli intelligence or special forces were responsible was credible, while a third said US forces might be involved. The militias issued a joint statement warning European countries not to join the war, threatening their forces and bases in Iraq and the region.
