As slain leaders commemorated, Iraq and Iran attacked yet again

The PMF took part in the 6 January military parade in Baghdad.

As the airshow and the military parade were underway in Baghdad, and the IRGC and PMF were showing off their strong ties in Basra in a joint military parade there as well, other forces in Iraq and from across the region were meeting to discuss the next moves in a deadly regional geopolitical chess game.

Iran had previously unveiled Abu Mahdi naval cruise missiles in mid-2023 – also named in honour of the Iraqi commander – claiming they, too, were able to evade radars. Dozens were reportedly delivered to the Iranian military and the IRGC amid a build-up of US deployments to the Gulf.

On 7 January, a shadow armed group calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq announced that it had launched a long-range cruise missile at the Israeli port city of Haifa. It was not immediately clear when it was launched, whether it had reached its target, or from where exactly it had been launched.

The same group had since 17 October taken responsibility for launching over 100 attacks on facilities hosting US forces in Iraq and Syria, declaring US support for Israel in its war on Gaza. Observers say the group is connected with some Iran-linked armed factions with brigades incorporated into the government-salaried PMF.

'Resistance' leaders targeted in several countries

As the official Palestinian death toll from the war on Gaza tops 22,000 and the US's support for Israel continues to provoke anger, multiple armed factions seem to be seeking to build up military might and showcase it.

Factions part of what is known as the Iran-led Axis of Resistance – of which Soleimani and Muhandis were leaders – are united by their declared aim to counter Israel and US presence in the region.

In a September 2022 interview with the author of this article, Yazan al-Jabouri – known as the Sunni protégé of Muhandis – told her that, in Iraq, "with Abu Mahdi, we had someone who would plan strategically on things. Most of the people we have now think only tactically".

The Palestinian armed faction Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah are also parts of the Axis of Resistance.

Multiple leaders have been targeted in recent days across the region, including Hamas deputy political chief Saleh al-Arouri in an Israeli strike on a Hezbollah stronghold in the Lebanese capital.

The 3 January commemoration ceremonies in Baghdad for Soleimani and Muhandis on the fourth anniversary of their killing had barely finished before one of those close associates was assassinated in central Baghdad.

In a 4 January daytime strike not far from the country's interior ministry complex on Palestine Street, Abu Taqwa was killed.

The man had been affiliated with the 'resistance faction' Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba. He was PMF deputy commander for what is known as the Baghdad belt, mainly rural areas surrounding the capital.

"In a blatant aggression and violation of Iraq's sovereignty and security, a drone conducted an act akin to terrorist activities by targeting one of the security headquarters in the capital, Baghdad, today.

This act resulted in casualties and is unequivocally condemned," Maj. Gen. Yehia Rasoul, Spokesperson for the Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief, wrote in a statement posted on the X social media platform shortly after the incident.

"The Iraqi Armed Forces hold the Global Coalition Forces responsible for this unwarranted attack on an Iraqi security entity that is operating within the powers authorised by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. This action undermines the previously established understandings between the Iraqi Armed Forces and the Global Coalition Forces," he added.

Several hours later, a US Department of Defense press secretary said in a briefing that Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al-Jawari, also known as Abu Taqwa, and another member of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba had been killed by the US.

"It is important to note that the strike was taken in self-defence, that no civilians were harmed, and that no infrastructure or facilities were struck," he said.

Hezbollah representative to Iraq, Sheikh Mohammad Hussein Al-Kawtharani, arrived in Baghdad only hours later, according to the Amwaj website. 

"Speaking on condition of anonymity, informed Arab sources said the mid-ranking Shiite cleric travelled to the Iraqi capital in the early hours of 5 January for what is expected to be his first extended stay in two years," the website reported.

The US Treasury designated Kawtharani "a Specially Designated Global Terrorist" in 2013. In 2020, the US State Department's Rewards for Justice programme offered a reward of up to $10mn for "information on the activities, networks, and associates" of Kawtharani.

Sources in Baghdad claimed he went to Kataib al-Imam Ali commander Shibl al-Zaidi's heavily guarded home in Baghdad's expensive Jadriyah area.

PMF and IRGC show off ties in key southern port

In early January, in Iraq's southern Faw port, the IRGC and the PMF staged a joint military parade in honour of the anniversary of the two Shiite leaders' 'martyrdom'.

Those who fear growing "control" over Iraq by Iran saw the joint military parade as yet another sign that their fight to prevent such undue influence is being lost.

Others say friendly relations with Iran are necessary for Iraqi security, given the long border between the two countries.

The Faw Port is key to the Development Road project, a road and rail network that plans to link Basra and the Grand Faw Port with the Turkish border and then through routes onwards to the Turkish port of Mersin and Europe.

Iraq's prime minister has called the project "an economic lifeline and a promising opportunity for the convergence of interests, history, and cultures".

Veterans of wars on different sides

Muhandis was born to an Iraqi father and an Iranian mother in the Basra province, where ties between the two neighbouring countries remain solid and complex.

The Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988 is keenly remembered here by officers of a certain age, many of whom took part in it or had male relatives killed in it.

Some note that several of the Iraqi commanders of Iran-led resistance factions fought on the side of Iran during that war and that they thus consider them "traitors".

In addition to the hundreds of thousands of deaths and disappearances it suffered in those years, Iraq remains physically scarred with risks arising from war remnants.

The directorate focusing on mines in the environment ministry said in March last year that Basra was the most mine-filled city in the world. The UN's Mine Action Service has said that at least 20 years will be needed to clear all Iraq's landmines, many of which were planted along the border between Iran and Iraq during the 1980-88 war.

The young men who joined the PMF during the years of the 2014-2017 war were instead born many years after the end of that war. Some of these youths grew up with the view of the various Shiite-led armed groups as more "moral" or as a way to become "heroes", engage in "jihad", or serve their country and a cause they believe in.

Others may have signed up to engage in state-sanctioned violence or simply as a way to escape the boredom of potentially dead-end lives.

Some now see it simply as a way to make a living.

One man who had joined Kataib Hezbollah during Iraq's 2014-2017 war against the Islamic State (IS) told Al Majalla in an interview in early 2023 in Iraq's southern region of Maysan — which borders Iran and of which Iraq's current prime minister previously served as governor — that he had been "disillusioned" by the armed group and no longer considered what he had done in Syria with them to be a source of pride.

However, he added that he needed the salary and had few other options. He had joined the group as a teenager and went with them to fight across the border in Syria, neglecting his studies.

State employment is seen as one of the few possibilities for some sort of stable income for many in Iraq.

Baghdad's entry infused with symbolism

Much of central and southern Iraq continues to display billboards of the Muhandis and Soleimani embracing and holding hands, serving as a constant reminder and warning.

The Iraqi cabinet on 2 January officially approved renaming the road to the Baghdad airport to 'Martyr Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis Street', ensuring that anyone entering Iraq sees from the very first moments in the country which it holds up as a hero.

Off to one side, another symbol of sorts can be glimpsed: the palatial buildings and man-made lake of the American University of Iraq - Baghdad, which opened for classes in early 2021.

Both Soleimani and Muhandis had been on the US terrorist list for years at the time of their assassination in January 2020. Both had also been involved in the fighting against IS and other groups, including local Syrian opposition fighters on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Many of those taking part in the Axis of Resistance consider Iraq part of a wider region in which allegiance is to a cause and not individual countries.