Since the disappearance of former Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani from the Iranian arena in early January 2020, factions loyal to Tehran have entered a new phase.
The man, known as the "Architect" of Iranian expansion in the region, directly led the loyalist militias to his country in the Middle East, namely factions from Al-Khashd and others in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian territories, the Houthis in Yemen and the Zinbion brigade in Syria.
Pure Greed
From this it can be understood that Iran seeks to rearrange its militia cards in Iraq by electing hundreds of "reliable" fighters, and establishing smaller factions that are very loyal to it, according to a previous Reuters report last month.
In this context, Harit Hassan, a Middle East researcher in the Middle East Malcolm Carrie-Carnegi Center, who specializes in Iraqi affairs, confirmed to al-Arabiya.net that after the killing of Suleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, about fifty Iraqi factions became less disciplined and competition between them and the militia command. "Al-Hashad al-Shaabi is more concerned with pursuing the financial benefits of the Iraqi state and not implementing the agenda of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards."
Training in Lebanon
In addition, he explained, "The training of these groups took place in Lebanon by Hezbollah military instructors for several reasons. Firstly to ensure their loyalty and obedience to Hezbollah, unlike the Iraqi factions, where competition between them is fierce, and secondly because Hezbollah has independent political and geographical space. Once in Lebanon they are safe, in contrast to the situation in Iraq, where the Americans almost control the air, making it difficult to train and fly drones.
What facilitated Hezbollah's Iraqi training mission was the freedom to enter Lebanon without a visa, which was pointed out by a researcher specializing in Iraq.