This week, a previously little-known militant group called Saraya Awlia al-Dam – the Guardians of Blood – claimed responsibility for an attack on the U.S. base at Erbil airport in northern Iraq that killed a civilian contractor and injured nine people.
But the Guardians of Blood is just one of the front names for established pro-Iranian radical Shia militia groups such as Asaib Ahl a-Haq and Kataib Hezbollah which have surfaced under new identities on Telegram since August 2020.
The Shia militias are all nominally under the direction of the Iraqi government, mainly under the name of the Popular Mobilisation Force (PMF), locally known as Hashed – an umbrella organisation including over 40 other groups formed to fight the Islamic State in 2014.
However, many of these groups operate under the direction of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), an elite branch of the Iranian army founded after the 1979 Islamic revolution. The ideologically driven unit serves as the regime’s iron fist to preserve the Islamic system in Iran, and pursue Iran’s regional strategic interests beyond its borders.
Read the complete article at: Vice