Lebanese Daily: Iraq To Disconnect From Iran-Backed Axis Of Resistance; Unconfirmed Reports That Heads Of Shi'ite Militias Were Granted Asylum In Russia, Belarus

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On February 17, 2025 the Lebanese Al-Nahar daily published an op-ed that claims that Iraq is working to disconnect, within several months, from the Iran-backed axis of resistance and to integrate the members of the Iran-backed Shi'ite militias in Iraq into the ranks of the Iraqi Armed Forces. Also mentioned in Al-Nahar are reports in the Iraqi media which claim that commanders of Shi'ite militias in Iraq "requested and received asylum in Russia and in Belarus."[1] 

The article titled, "Will Iraq Sever Relations with the Iranian Axis of Resistance?" maintains that the issue of the relationship between the Iraqi authorities and the axis of resistance supported by Iran was the focal point of contacts held by Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia Al-Sudani and senior Iranian officials during a recent visit to Teheran between January 8 and 10, 2025.

According to the Lebanese Al-Nahar daily, its reports are based on three sources well-versed in the details of these contacts: two are Iraqi, one of whom is a member of the Shi'ite political leadership in the Iraqi city of Najaf, while the second is a high-ranking Iraqi diplomat in Teheran. The third source is an Iranian who works at the Foreign Ministry and is in touch with all the foreign delegations that visit Teheran.

According to the sources, at his meetings with the senior Iranian officials, Al-Sudani said that Iraq would not be "the last operational base for the Iranian proxy war in the region," and that his government intended to integrate the Iran-backed militias into the Iraqi Armed Forces or "to take them out of service." Al-Nahar explains that this is in order to deny Iran direct logistic and operational control of at least six militias, among them the Sayyed Al-Shuhada Brigades and the Hizbullah Brigades. The final goal of this measure, according to the daily is so that in a few months there will no longer be any organizations that belong to the axis of resistance on Iraqi territory.

Al-Nahar notes that the Sayyed Al-Shuhada Brigades has been controlled by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) since its establishment in 2013 and is connected to Hizbullah's political and logistical network, as are most of the Shi'ite semi-military groups that are part of the axis of resistance. According to the daily, at the center of the issue are five or six additional groups within the framework of Al-Hashd Al-Wala'i i.e. the [Iran-aligned] Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). These groups previously fought as part of the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and in Syria, and yet still appear on the U.S. designated terrorist list, alongside all the groups that operate under the patronage of the Sayyed Al-Shuhada Brigades. Also mentioned in the article is that according to various reports in the Iraqi media, "commanders of Shi'ite militias requested and were granted asylum in Russia and in Belarus."

Regarding the anticipated response to these measures from Iran and its militias, Al-Nahar writes that in the opinion of the Iranian diplomatic source referred to above, the extremist elements in Iran and the Shi'ite factions in Iraq are expected to object to the comprehensive elimination of the semi-military forces in the long term. The daily notes that absorbing the militias into the ranks of the army is not a simple matter at all, if it is to involve the dismantling of the units and hierarchical structure of the militias' leadership. Furthermore, adding senior operatives who are included on the lists of designated terrorists to the command staff of the Iraqi Armed Forces, while not unprecedented, is expected to be met with strong objections from the U.S.

Notable in this context is a January 9, 2025 report from the Arabic-language American website Alhurra.com, which presented the assessments of political observers who wrote that the recent visit by the Iraqi prime minister to Teheran was in line with Baghdad's efforts to dissolve the militias so as to shield them from potential strikes by the U.S. and Israel.[2]