Soleimani-built Iraqi militia network drags US into multi-front conflict, Telegraph reports

WASHINGTON, United States — Armed groups built in Iraq by Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, killed in a US strike in Baghdad in 2020, have become one of Tehran's tools for drawing the United States and its allies into a multi-front confrontation, The Telegraph reported. According to the report, the network shifts the fighting from Iranian territory into Iraq, creating a longer and costlier battleground for Washington. It said Soleimani's strategy of building armed structures outside Iran's borders has yielded results, pointing to joint air operations carried out by the United States and Saudi Arabia after they held certain Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) factions responsible for attacks aligned with their rivals' interests. Those operations left dozens killed and wounded, the report added. The groups emerged after the 2003 US invasion and now operate across intertwined military, political and economic spheres, holding seats in parliament, wielding influence inside state institutions and running wide commercial networks, according to the report. One Iranian analyst described the structures as significant assets for Iran but said full control over them is complicated, while another said their function is to move the war from Iran into Iraq, draw in new parties and increase the complexity of the conflict. An Iranian official told the newspaper that Tehran would defend the factions in the same way it supports Lebanon's Hezbollah.