Free Republic

Iranians and Iraqis are celebrating after the Pentagon, under the direction of President Trump, carried out an airstrike in Baghdad that killed Iranian military leader Qasem Soleimani. The action came in response to an Iran-led attack on the US embassy in Iraq. Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard CorpsÂ’ elite Quds Force, a designated terror group since 2007, was despised by many in Iran, and by Iraqis who have been subject to a campaign of terror in their own country at the hands of forces operating in lockstep with the Iranian military. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo...

The CIA program to supply Arab rebels in Syria has made TOW anti-tank guided missiles a nearly ubiquitous sight in media coming from the conflict. But the United States might not be the only country waging a covert war with TOW (or TOW-like) missiles in the Middle East. Iranian reverse-engineered TOW anti-tank guided missiles, dubbed “Toophan,” have been been sighted headed toward Yemen with additional suspected appearances in Iraq and Syria — all in the hands of Tehran’s allies and proxy groups. Iran’s production of reverse-engineered TOW missiles is no great secret. In official news outlets, documentaries and on Iran’s official arms...

Among the thousands of militia fighters who flocked to northern Iraq to battle militant group Islamic State over the summer was Qais al-Khazali. Like the fighters, Khazali wore green camouflage. But he also sported a shoulder-strapped pistol and sunglasses and was flanked by armed bodyguards. When he was not on the battlefield, the 40-year-old Iraqi donned the robes and white turban of a cleric. Khazali is the head of a militia called Asaib Ahl al-Haq that is backed by Iran. Thanks to his position, he is one of the most feared and respected militia leaders in Iraq, and one of...

Sunni insurgents who battled American soldiers in Iraq until their long-time enemy withdrew last year have turned their wrath on a new target: Shiite Iran. The fall of Saddam Hussein's regime on April 9, 2003, the dissolution of the Iraqi army and ruling Baath party and the rise to power of Shiites after 80 years of Sunni domination, buoyed Iraqi and Arab jihadists. Four months after most US troops left Iraq, the jihadists had to find a new reason to sustain their continued presence -- enter Iran and the Shiite-led Iraqi regime. "Armed groups always need to find an enemy...