What is the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for killing 3 US soldiers in Jordan?

Why were US troops stationed in Jordan?

The strikes targeted Tower 22, a US military outpost (a smaller version of a military base) in Jordan. The country is bordered by Israel to its west, Saudi Arabia to its southeast, Iraq to its northeast and Syria to its north.

Map showing Jordan and the Middle East. (Google Maps)

A Reuters report said the outpost has around 350 US Army and Air Force staffers. “Jordan’s army is one of the largest recipients of Washington’s foreign military financing. The kingdom has hundreds of US trainers and is one of the few regional allies that hold extensive exercises with US troops throughout the year,” the report added.

Tower 22 is near the Al Tanf garrison, located in Syria. US troops used the garrison while fighting against the Islamic State (IS), which emerged amid the Syrian Civil War. That conflict broke out in the early 2010s when a section of Syrians attempted to dislodge President Bashar al-Assad from power. His father had ruled the country for decades before him, and this uprising also came from issues such as high inflation and unemployment.

With various countries backing the rebels (the US, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, etc.) and others backing the Assad regime (Russia and Iran), the war went on. Today, Assad has maintained his grip on power in Syria.

The militant organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) emerged in this period and attempted to establish an Islamic caliphate amid the chaos in the region. It also carried out attacks and beheadings of foreigners in these countries, raising international concern.

What is the Islamic Resistance of Iraq?

According to a recent report in the Financial Times, “In Iraq and Syria, US forces have come under repeated assault by a newly created group of Iran-backed militias known as the Islamic Resistance of Iraq.”

Another FT report said the group is part of the ‘Axis of Resistance’ – the multiple groups that Iran backs as part of its anti-Western and anti-USA stance. “Analysts believe the “Islamic Resistance of Iraq” is a front for Iranian-backed factions within an umbrella of militias known as Hashd al-Shaabi. These have become powerful military and political forces, boast tens of thousands of fighters and are also integrated into the state.”

The think tank Washington Institute noted in an October 2023 analysis that the IRI refers to “An umbrella term used to describe the operations of all Iran-backed militias in Iraq, including strikes into Syria during the October 2023 conflict between Israel and Hamas.” On October 17, the group said it carried out a drone attack on Harir Air Base in Iraqi Kurdistan. There was a possibility of its link to a Shiite group, the Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba.

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Earlier on October 7, the Palestinian militant organisation Hamas launched attacks on Israel. The Israeli military responded with a military offensive on the Gaza Strip that continues today and has resulted in the deaths of around 25,000 people and counting. Iran-backed rebel groups in the region, such as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah and the Yemen-based Houthis, have launched counter-attacks in response in solidarity with Palestine.

An AP report said that since October 7, “such militias have struck American military installations in Iraq more than 60 times and in Syria more than 90 times, with a mix of drones, rockets, mortars and ballistic missiles.”

At least since November, the movement of ships via the Red Sea has been targeted by the Houthis. Citing threats to global commerce, the US and the UK launched strikes on Houthis in Yemen earlier this month. The AP also reported that IRI has previously claimed responsibility for launching explosive drone attacks targeting three areas in Syria, one inside of “occupied Palestine,” and for dozens of attacks at “bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria”.

What are the concerns here?

Some Republican politicians in the US criticised the Biden administration. “He left our troops as sitting ducks,” said Republican US Senator Tom Cotton. “The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East.”

Former President Donald Trump, who is also the frontrunner Presidential candidate from the Republican party, said the attack was a “consequence of Joe Biden’s weakness and surrender.”

For months, analysts have raised concerns that the widening ambit of the conflict could risk a full-blown war, given the regional, religious and ethnic rivalries in the Middle East and the presence of multiple powerful non-state actors.