Both the United States and Iran escalated their operations in Iraq. This couldn’t be worse news for Baghdad which was hoping that it would not be stuck between the two sides.
On March 5 American special forces were deployed inside Iraq. First a unit landed in the Najaf desert near the Karbala border. An Iraqi unit from the Karbala Operations Command responded and were fired upon by the U.S. force leading to 1 Iraqi dead and 2 wounded. The target was supposedly a pro-Iran Resistance camp. Baghdad formally protested to the U.S. about this operation.
That same day another group of Special Forces were deployed to Anbar. Iraqi border guards approached the Americans and were sent back with one wounded and four vehicles destroyed. An Iraqi army unit was then sent to the area and was shot at as well leaving one soldier killed and two wounded. The goal of this operation is unknown.
On March 6 a helicopter attacked a Hashd checkpoint and building north of Mosul. This could’ve been either an American or Israeli aircraft.
These were the first reports of U.S. troops entering Iraq. They were a sign that the Americans are now spending more time focusing upon the Resistance.
Reuters ran an article that not all of the Resistance may be willing to take part in the war. For one there has been no large scale mobilization of Resistance forces to fight in the conflict. A Hashd commander claimed that only two or three groups would carry out attacks at behest of Iran this time. For one some groups have faced targeted assassinations of their leaders while others are more involved in politics and business today. The Resistance has also lost the support that it once had. The overthrow of Assad in Syria denied them an entire country to operate within. One of its other sponsors Lebanon’s Hezbollah had its leader killed by Israel. All together this makes the Resistance a divided and reluctant group.
Few Hashd units have been identified as being responsible for attacks so far. The Kurds for instance, accused the Babylon Brigades, the Shabak 30th Hashd Brigade and Sayid al-Shuhada as being behind attacks upon Kurdistan using their bases in the Ninwea Plains. Other groups such as Asaib Ahl Al-Haq and the Imam Ali Brigades have been hit but they have not been mentioned in relation to operations.
Kataib Hezbollah which is one of the most militant Resistance factions has faced losses so far in the war. On March 4 one of its commanders Abu Hassan al-Fariji was killed by a drone strike in Babil’s Iskandiriya. Another leader Abu Saif died in at the hands of a drone in the group’s base in Babil’s Jurf al-Sakhr. He was in charge of running an oil smuggling ring that also sold refined products.
Iran on the other hand has also started a new strategy in Iraq. That is to attack oil targets in the hopes that this will increase petroleum prices with the goal that this will lead to pressure upon President Trump to end the conflict.
Starting on March 5 a drone hit a Bahamas flagged oil tanker anchored in Iraqi waters and another crashed over British Petroleum headquarters at the Rumaila field in Basra.
March 6 two drones hit the Sarsang field in Dohuk which led to a temporary shutdown of the facility. The Kurds had stopped producing oil due to the war but then then restarted production at some fields. This has now apparently ended. Another oil company was targeted in Burjasiya in Basra and France’s Total at the Artawi field.
At the same time on March 7 Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian stated that Tehran would stop attacking its neighbors unless they were used for operations against Iran. That same day the Iranian Revolutionary Guard took credit for hitting three Iranian Kurdish Opposition parties with drones within Iraq. It’s not clear if this moratorium is supposed to start the next day or is just rhetoric to appease the region or to blame things on its allies such as the Iraqi Resistance.
Violence continues in Iraq. March 4 several missiles and drones were shot down over Irbil city. The Peshmerga destroyed a Hashd vehicle in Khalid in Irbil after it was used to fire rockets at Irbil city.
March 5 Koya in Irbil was targeted for the fourth time. Iran claimed it sent drones against the U.S. military headquarters in Irbil city. Three drones targeted telecommunications towers used by Asiacell and Kurdistan Radio in the Zmnako Mountains in Sulaymaniya. A drone was shot down over Basra. The Resistance claimed 29 operations in Iraq and the Middle East that day.
March 6 rockets were fired from Abu Ghraib in western Baghdad province, three more were aimed at Taji army base in the north, and there were two separate attacks upon Camp Victoria at Baghdad airport. An air cargo building inside Basra airport was struck by a drone. A drone was shot down heading from Kirkuk to Sulaymaniya, explosions occurred at the Irbil airport, and the Arjaan By Rotana hotel in Irbil city was hit by drones. The Resistance claimed 27 strikes that day.
On the U.S. and Israeli side Asaib Ahl Al-Haq’s 41st Hashd Brigade was targeted in Mosul, as well as the Imam Ali Brigades in the Qayara district in south Ninewa, the Babylon Brigades in Tal Keif in north Ninewa, and Kataib Hezbollah in Babil’s Jurf al-Sakhr.
March 7 air defenses shot down missiles aimed at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. Three drones hit the Choman district in Irbil province with one striking a social services office. Missiles targeted Irbil airport where U.S. troops are based. A drone was shot down over Sulaymaniya city. The Resistance claimed 23 operations that day in Iraq and the region.
Resistance factions were targeted again that day. The Imam Ali brigades faced an airstrike near Mosul and the 33rd Hashd Brigade was hit in Ninewa leaving one dead and three wounded. A Kataib Hezbollah checkpoint in western Anbar was hit.
SOURCES
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