As the shaky between the United States and Iran continues to hold, there are growing concerns about the role Iraq is increasingly playing across a delicate regional landscape. A country with a deep history and immense strategic importance, Iraq is gradually becoming a bit of a headache.
Away from the main headlines, observers will know that there have been repeated attacks launched from Iraqi territory against Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, even when the overall onus was on calm and negotiations. This raises serious questions about Iraq’s future and its impact on regional security. Although the latest attacks involving drones were intercepted by Saudi and Gulf air-defence systems, they nevertheless confront us with a reality that cannot be ignored.
The deeper problem appears to lie less with the Iraqi state and its official institutions than with the armed factions and militias that have usurped the state’s authority and turned Iraqi territory into a platform for advancing external agendas. These groups are allied with Iran.
They have transformed Iraq into an arena for settling scores and tied its security and stability to interests that serve neither its people nor its future. Under such conditions, it is difficult to discuss state sovereignty, while rogue armed formations remain beyond the authority of the law and operate according to the will of those outside Iraq’s borders.
Unrestrained militias
Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed “concern” and condemned the attacks, but that is insufficient. This moment requires more than statements of condemnation. Neighbouring states that are being attacked from Iraqi territory are waiting for tangible action and firm measures to end this lawlessness. Unless Iraq’s diplomatic statements are matched by a genuine ability to restrain the militias and prevent them from undermining the security of neighbouring states, then the language loses its meaning.
The Iraqi government’s clear inability to control the country’s internal situation sends negative signals regarding the capacity of state institutions to fulfil their obligations towards Iraq’s neighbours and the international community. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states hold Iraq and its people in the highest regard, and as an inseparable component of the Arab regional order, having spent years supporting Iraq’s stability and helping restore it to its natural Arab environment, recognising that Iraq’s security is bound up with the security of the wider region.
