Baghdad: Online and in the streets of this city filled with billboards commemorating well-known Shiite ‘martyrs’ killed by the US, Iraqi militant groups widely believed linked to Iran began upping their rhetoric against American forces in the county in early June.
Threats came from armed groups belonging to the muqawama, or Iran-led 'resistance' factions, as well as self-declared but previously unknown shadowy “brigades” making their Telegram debuts.
Meanwhile, south of Iraq on 4 June, “United States and United Kingdom Royal Navy forces responded to a distress call from a merchant vessel transiting the Strait of Hormuz”, when “Iranian fast-attack boats harassed the commercial ship”, according to a statement posted online.
Starting out with Verse 61:4 from the Quran, “God loves those who fight in His cause in ranks as if they were a concrete structure”, an alleged group calling itself the Kataib Karbala announced in a statement posted on Telegram on 3 June “full readiness to confront the American presence” in Iraq.
US forces in Iraq officially transitioned to an “advise, assist and enable role” at the end of 2021. Many Shiite militant groups have long demanded that all US forces leave Iraq and have threatened to use violence to force them to do so, calling it a religious duty.
Kataib Karbala translates as ‘the Brigades of Karbala’, referencing a city in Iraq that millions of Shiite Muslims visit on pilgrimages every year.
The statement added that the aim of the group is “defending our land and our dignity until the great victory is achieved, meaning the expulsion of the occupation from all of Iraq”.
It also stressed that this comes “especially after the current government failed, as some statements were issued that are considered a betrayal of our people and harmful to our cause”.