RSS
Iran-Backed Militias in Iraq Ready to Disarm to Avert Trump Wrath

A vehicle carries the coffin of a commander from Iraq’s Kataib Hezbollah armed group who was killed in what they called a “Zionist attack” in the Syrian capital Damascus, during a funeral in Baghdad, Iraq, Sept. 22, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani
Several powerful Iranian-backed militia groups in Iraq are prepared to disarm for the first time to avert the threat of an escalating conflict with the US Trump administration, 10 senior commanders and Iraqi officials told Reuters.
The move to defuse tensions follows repeated warnings issued privately by US officials to the Iraqi government since Trump took power in January, according to the sources who include six local commanders of four major militias.
The officials told Baghdad that unless it acted to disband the militias operating on its soil, America could target the groups with airstrikes, the people added.
Izzat al-Shahbndar, a senior Shi’ite Muslim politician close to Iraq‘s governing alliance, told Reuters that discussions between Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and several militia leaders were “very advanced,” and the groups were inclined to comply with US calls for disarmament.
“The factions are not acting stubbornly or insisting on continuing in their current form,” he said, adding that the groups were “fully aware” they could be targeted by the US.
The six militia commanders interviewed in Baghdad and a southern province, who requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive situation, are from the Kataib Hezbollah, Nujabaa, Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada, and Ansarullah al-Awfiyaa groups.
“Trump is ready to take the war with us to worse levels, we know that, and we want to avoid such a bad scenario,” said a commander of Kataib Hezbollah, the most powerful Shi’ite militia, who spoke from behind a black face mask and sunglasses.
The commanders said their main ally and patron, Iran‘s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) military force, had given them its blessing to take whatever decisions they deemed necessary to avoid being drawn into a potentially ruinous conflict with the United States and Israel.
The militias are part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of about 10 hardline Shi’ite armed factions that collectively command about 50,000 fighters and arsenals that include long-range missiles and anti-aircraft weapons, according to two security officials who monitor militias‘ activities.
The Resistance group, a key pillar of Iran‘s network of regional proxy forces, have claimed responsibility for dozens of missile and drone attacks on Israel and US forces in Iraq and Syria since the Gaza war erupted about 18 months ago.
Farhad Alaaeldin, Sudani’s foreign affair adviser, told Reuters in response to queries about disarmament talks that the prime minister was committed to ensuring all weapons in Iraq were under state control through “constructive dialogue with various national actors.”
The two Iraqi security officials said Sudani was pressing for disarmament from all the militias of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which declare their allegiance to Iran‘s IRGC or Quds Force rather than to Baghdad.
Some groups have already largely evacuated their headquarters and reduced their presences in major cities including Mosul and Anbar since mid-January for fear of being hit by air attacks, according to officials and commanders.
Many commanders have also stepped up their security measures in that time, changing their mobile phones, vehicles and abodes more frequently, they said.
The US State Department said it continued to urge Baghdad to rein in the militias. “These forces must respond to Iraq‘s commander-in-chief and not to Iran,” it added.
An American official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, cautioned that there had been instances in the past when the militias had ceased their attacks because of US pressure, and was skeptical any disarmament would be long-term.
The IRGC declined to comment for this article while the Iranian and Israeli foreign ministries didn’t respond to queries.
SHAKEN: IRAN‘S AXIS OF RESISTANCE
Shahbndar, the Shi’ite politician, said the Iraqi government had not yet finalized a deal with militant leaders, with a disarmament mechanism still under discussion. Options being considered include turning the groups into political parties and integrating them into the Iraqi armed forces, he added.
While the fate of any disarmament process remains uncertain, the discussions nonetheless mark the first time the militias have been prepared to give ground to longstanding Western pressure to demilitarize.
The shift comes at a precarious time for Tehran’s regional “Axis of Resistance” which it has established at great cost over decades to oppose Israel and US influence but has seen severely weakened since Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7 2023, tipped the Middle East into conflict.
Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon have been hammered by Israel since the Gaza war began while the Houthi movement in Yemen has been targeted by US airstrikes since last month. The fall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, another key Iranian ally, has further weakened the Islamic Republic’s influence.
Iraq is seeking to balance its alliances with both America and Iran in its dealing with the militias on its soil. The groups sprang up across the country with Iranian financial and military support in the chaotic wake of the 2003 US invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, and have become formidable forces that can rival the national army in firepower.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth told Prime Minister Sudani in a phone call on March 16, shortly after the American strikes on the Houthis began, to prevent the militias carrying out revenge attacks on Israel and US bases in the region in support of their allies, according to two government officials and two security sources briefed on the exchange.
The Iraqi-based militias had launched dozens of drone and rockets attacks against Israel in solidarity with Hamas since the Gaza war began and killed three US soldiers in a drone operation in Jordan near the Syrian border last year.
Ibrahim al-Sumaidaie, a former political adviser to Sudani, told Iraqi state TV that the United States had long pressed Iraq‘s leadership to dismantle Shi’ite militias, but this time Washington might not take no for an answer.
“If we do not voluntarily comply, it may be forced upon us from the outside, and by force.”
The post Iran-Backed Militias in Iraq Ready to Disarm to Avert Trump Wrath first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Israel Says It Would Reduce Troops in Lebanon if Beirut Takes Steps to Disarm Hezbollah

An Israeli tank is positioned on the Israeli side of the Israel-Lebanon border, March 18, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Avi Ohayon
Israel on Monday signaled it would scale back its military presence in southern Lebanon if the Lebanese armed forces took action to disarm Iran-backed Shi’ite terrorist group Hezbollah.
The announcement from the Israeli prime minister’s office came a day after Benjamin Netanyahu met with US envoy Tom Barrack, who has been heavily involved in a plan that would disarm Hezbollah and withdraw Israeli forces from Lebanon.
“If the Lebanese Armed Forces take the necessary steps to implement the disarmament of Hezbollah, Israel will engage in reciprocal measures, including a phased reduction” by the Israeli military, the Israeli prime minister’s office said.
The statement did not explicitly say if Israeli forces would fully withdraw from the five positions they hold in Lebanon.
The Israeli military has maintained a presence in southern Lebanon near the border since agreeing to a United States-backed ceasefire with Hezbollah in November.
Israel was to withdraw its forces within two months and Lebanon‘s armed forces were to take control of the country’s south, territory that has long been a stronghold for Hezbollah.
This month, Lebanon‘s cabinet tasked the army with drawing up a plan to establish state control over arms by December, a challenge to Hezbollah, which has rejected calls to disarm.
The prime minister’s office described the Lebanese cabinet’s decision to back the move as a momentous decision. Israel stood “ready to support Lebanon in its efforts to disarm Hezbollah,” the statement said without saying what support it could provide.
Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria, has said Israel should comply with the plan for Hezbollah disarmament, which would mean the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The Israeli military continues to carry out periodic air strikes in Lebanon that it said targeted Hezbollah terrorists and facilities used by the Islamist group to store weapons.
Palestinian factions in Lebanon surrendered some weapons to the armed forces last week as part of the disarmament plan.
RSS
Syria Says Israel Takes Some Territory Around Mount Hermon Despite Talks

Israeli forces operate at a location given as Mount Hermon region, Syria, in this handout image released Dec. 9, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
Syria said on Monday that Israel had sent 60 soldiers to take control of an area inside the Syrian border around Mount Hermon, saying the operation violated its sovereignty and posed a further threat to regional security.
Israel did not immediately comment on the accusation by Syria‘s foreign ministry, which comes as the two countries engage in US-mediated talks on de-escalating their conflict in southern Syria. Damascus hopes to reach a security arrangement that could eventually pave the way for broader political talks.
Monday’s incident took place near a strategic hilltop that overlooks Beit Jinn, an area of southern Syria close to the border with Lebanon, the ministry said. Israel also arrested six Syrians there, according to residents in the area.
The area is known for arms smuggling by Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group and by Palestinian jihadist factions. Previous Israeli incursions have mostly been in the southern Quneitra governorate.
The Israeli military on Sunday shared footage of what it said were troops locating weapons storage facilities last week in southern Syria.
“This dangerous escalation is considered a direct threat to regional peace and security,” the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Israel has cited its own security concerns for its military interventions inside Syria since the fall of Bashar al-Assad last December, including what it sees as its obligation to protect members of the Druze minority in southern Syria.
Hundreds of people were reported killed in clashes last month in the southern province of Sweida between Druze fighters, Sunni Bedouin tribes and government forces. Israel intervened with airstrikes to prevent what it said was mass killings of Druze by the Syrian government forces.
In January, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Israeli troops would remain on the summit of Mount Hermon indefinitely.
Israel has since then formed a de facto security zone, where it regularly patrols, sets up checkpoints, and carries out searches and raids in villages.
RSS
Widespread Anti-Israel Protests Held in Australia

Demonstrators hold a placard as they take part in the ‘Nationwide March for Palestine’ protest in Sydney, Australia, Aug. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Hollie Adams
Thousands of Australians joined anti-Israel rallies on Sunday, organizers said, amid strained relations between Israel and Australia following the center-left government’s decision to recognize a Palestinian state.
More than 40 protests took place across Australia on Sunday, Palestine Action Group said, including large turnouts in state capitals Sydney, Brisbane, and Melbourne. The group said around 350,000 attended the rallies nationwide, including around 50,000 in Brisbane, though police estimated the numbers there at closer to 10,000. Police did not have estimates for crowd sizes in Sydney and Melbourne.
In Sydney, organizer Josh Lees said Australians were out in force to “demand an end to this genocide in Gaza and to demand that our government sanction Israel” as rallygoers, many with Palestinian flags, chanted “free, free Palestine.”
Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, an umbrella group for more than 200 Jewish organizations, told Sky News television that the rallies created “an unsafe environment and shouldn’t be happening.”
The protests follow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week stepping up his personal attacks on his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese over his government’s decision this month to recognize a Palestinian state.
Diplomatic ties between Australia and Israel soured after Albanese’s Labor government said it would conditionally recognize Palestinian statehood, following similar moves by France, Britain, and Canada.
The Aug. 11 announcement came days after tens of thousands of people marched across Sydney’s iconic Harbour Bridge, calling for peace and aid deliveries to Gaza, where Israel began an offensive nearly two years ago after the Hamas terrorist group launched a deadly cross-border attack.