The Revolutionary League, Iran's new arm operating in Iraq

A new militia linked to Iran has begun operating on Iraqi territory. It calls itself the Revolutionary League, or Usbat al-Thairen, and few details are yet known about it. So far, its Shiite nature has been identified, as it couldn't be otherwise being linked to Tehran, and the existence of possible links with the Lebanese organization Hezbollah and its Iraqi affiliates, as well as with the rest of the militia groups that are present in Iraq, such as the so-called People's Mobilization Forces (PMF), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi. 

"It’s a new military arm fighting for power for the Iranian regime, with the aim of implementing its expansionist agenda in Iraq, as it seeks to continue to increase tension at the regional level,'' Kayhan London reports, according to Al-Ain. "It’s not yet clear who exactly the Revolutionary League is (...) there have been rapid attempts to link it to the Shiite militia movement, noting similarities in the speeches of the two organizations," says to Antiwar expert Jason Ditz. For analysts Caleb Weiss and Joe Truzman, they are probably "a front-line group among the other more established Iranian representatives in Iraq," as they explain in the Long War Journal. In addition, both allude to their logo, which reflects that of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and other representatives in the Middle East, which would demonstrate "their position within the Iranian resistance axis". 

However, according to expert James Snell in The Arab Weekly, "although his name is new, Usbat al-Thairen is a new version of an old threat". "It's a group of terrorist entities designated with a new name. The thought: changing the name to escape being the target of a current designation," Michael Pregent, a member of the Hudson Institute, says in the report.

Despite the discrepancies between the experts on the origins of the group, due to the lack of information, they all agree on the same thing. Their objective is clear and defined: to continue their actions against the United States and others outside the Coalition in the area. In this sense, the analyst Sajad Jihad considers that, in addition, the League has been created with other goals: "The objective is to carry out an asymmetric campaign against the US, independently of the other groups, avoiding pressure on the PMFs and creating a space and plausible denial," he wrote on Twitter, in a message picked up by the Middle East Eye. 

His first public appearance took place on March 15. The Revolutionary League released a video claiming responsibility for the attacks on the Taji military base that week, which houses International Coalition troops fighting the jihadist organization Daesh. As a result of the successive offensives, two American and one British soldier lost their lives. 

The video also contained messages along the same lines as those proclaimed by the other militias about revenge against the American giant for the deaths of Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Forces, the elite body of the IRGC, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, vice-president of the PMF, on 3 January in a bombing conducted by the Pentagon. First, one could hear that the US "is the enemy of vulnerable people and has gone too far in its excesses throughout Iraq". Linked to this, "the murders of our martyr commanders [Soleimani and Muhandis] lit a fire inside our hearts". 

Secondly, there was also praise for the personal damage caused by their attacks: "We rejoice in the fear of having struck at the hearts of the occupying enemy as a result of our quality operations". Thirdly and finally, the League warned of further attacks against U.S. interests in the country: "This operation is only the beginning and the end is yet to come" and "We say to the evil clients of the [U.S.] Embassy [located in Baghdad's Green Zone]: your days are numbered and you reap what you sow".

The new cell published a second video just a couple of days after the first one was released, following an offensive launched against the Basmaya military base, located about 50 kilometers south of the capital, Baghdad, where 350 Spanish military personnel are deployed. In it, a masked fighter, holding an AK-47 rifle and the Iraqi flag behind him, claimed responsibility for this latest bombing and again threatened U.S. forces in Iraq. According to the Long War Journal, "The statement began with a boast that the rockets the group used to attack Camp Taji were the 'least amount of force the group could use' against U.S. targets in Iraq". However, unlike his predecessor, in this video, the militiaman also referred to Israel as an enemy to be beaten. "We have long-range weapons that could perish in the land of your spoiled son, Israel," he said. 

In this second file, the similarities of the League with Hezbollah could be seen, as the speaker showed the camera a T-shaped hand gesture, which means that American soldiers who arrive alive in the region (vertically) leave dead (horizontally). The leader of the Lebanese organization, Hassan Nasrallah, was the first to use it on January 5, two days after the American offensive that killed Soleimani and Al-Muhandis. Since then, it has been used by the different militias that make up Iran's network in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. 

Despite the League's claim of responsibility for the attacks on the Taji base, Washington chose to hold the Kataib Hezbollah militias, which are included in the PMF, accountable. For analyst Jason Ditz, this is a risky move on the part of the White House. "Attempting to link them to Shiite militias allows the US to pursue its same strategy of engaging Iran on the issue, but it is risky to ignore the potential of another new group that has problems with the US occupation and about which virtually nothing is known," he says in Antiwar.