Near the wreckage at a site used by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces after airstrikes in Bartalla, Nineveh province, Iraq, July 29, 2026. Reuters/Khalid al-Mousily.
Washington and Riyadh conducted coordinated strikes that hit seven locations across Iraq early Wednesday focusing on three specific armed factions, each targeted for its alleged involvement in recent drone and rocket attacks.
According to an Iraqi security source and a political source, both closely familiar with the crisis, the targeted groups were the Badr Organization, Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Hezbollah.
Although the Badr Organization has not publicly threatened attacks against the United States or other countries, it was included due to alleged attacks originating from Iraqi territory against Jordan. Harakat al-Nujaba was targeted over alleged attacks on Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, while Kataib Hezbollah was included because of attacks that allegedly targeted Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
The two sources said operations were divided geographically: Saudi aircraft carried out strikes in southern Iraq, while U.S. forces conducted operations in the country’s north and east.
Iraqi reports likewise stated that Saudi and American warplanes entered Iraqi airspace simultaneously, striking locations in Shaml al-Dair in Basra province, Suwayra in Wasit, Awn district in Karbala, Dibis in Kirkuk, Amerli in Salah al-Din, Hamdaniya in the Nineveh Plains, the outskirts of al-Mada’in south of Baghdad and Abu Montather al-Mohammadawi Camp—formerly Camp Ashraf—in Diyala province.
Among those killed at al-Mohammadawi Camp were five advisers from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), who were allegedly directing attacks from the facility.
The strike locations corresponding with the factions’ respective areas of influence reveal a clear pattern. Camp Ashraf, Amerli and Dibis lie within the Badr Organization’s traditional strongholds in Diyala, Salah al-Din and Kirkuk, while the southern targets fall within what the two sources described as the sector struck by Saudi forces.
Three Factions, Three Different Profiles
The three factions differ significantly in their origins and political roles.
The Badr Organization, founded in Iran in 1982 under the supervision of Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, then head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, is the oldest and most deeply integrated into Iraq’s state institutions. It holds parliamentary seats, maintains influence within the Interior Ministry and security services and is led by Hadi al-Amiri, a former transport minister and senior figure in the ruling Shiite Coordination Framework.
Harakat al-Nujaba was established in 2013 after splitting from Asaib Ahl al-Haq under the leadership of Akram al-Kaabi. The group is designated by the United States as a terrorist organization, while al-Kaabi himself is listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under U.S. Executive Order 13224.
Kataib Hezbollah was founded in 2003 by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the PMF, who was killed alongside Iranian General Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. drone strike in early 2020.
A Warning Before the Strikes
The most sensitive claim made by the two sources is that the strikes came four days after the United States provided the Iraqi government with intelligence identifying the facilities from which the alleged attacks had been launched. According to the sources, Baghdad took no action on the ground, prompting Washington and Riyadh to carry out the operation themselves.
Elements of that account are reflected in official statements.
Following an emergency meeting of the National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Ali Faleh al-Zaidi, the government said the strikes occurred “while the Iraqi government was communicating with the relevant parties to verify and address the issues raised by both the Saudi and American sides regarding attacks targeting Saudi territory.”
The statement stopped short of denying that the issue had been raised with Baghdad before the strikes. Instead, it indicated that the government was still investigating the allegations when the operation took place.
U.S. President Donald Trump went further, saying the strikes had been carried out in coordination with the Iraqi government, a claim that increased political pressure on al-Zaidi.
The two sources said U.S. and Saudi officials had informed Baghdad in advance that strikes would target a number of facilities and asked that they be evacuated in order to limit casualties and contain the escalation, with the operation intended to focus on weapons and military equipment. Al-Zaidi subsequently contacted PMF Chairman Faleh al-Fayyad, according to the sources.
However, the United States and Saudi Arabia did not specify which facilities would be struck.
That may help explain the discrepancy between the competing accounts that emerged the following day.
U.S. Central Command said it had conducted “precision strikes in Iraq” in partnership with the Saudi armed forces, targeting Iran-backed militants directed by the IRGC to attack U.S. forces and Saudi energy infrastructure, in response to more than 30 drone attacks over the previous 72 hours.
The PMF, meanwhile, reported a preliminary toll of 20 dead and 32 wounded, while Iraqi security sources estimated that about 10 facilities had been targeted.
A broad evacuation request spanning six provinces without identifying the specific sites would have been difficult to carry out within a matter of hours.
The Political Fallout
The most consequential development after the strikes, according to a source familiar with the communication who spoke to MBN, was a message from al-Zaidi to Saudi Arabia stating that Baghdad expected to receive any future intelligence regarding attacks against the kingdom and would take deterrent measures itself.
Such a commitment carries significant domestic political risks, implying that the government is prepared to act against Iraqi groups based on intelligence provided by a foreign government, less than three months after al-Zaidi took office.
The political equation shifted quickly after the strikes.
The targeted factions immediately called for al-Zaidi’s planned visit to Saudi Arabia to be canceled and linked the issue to the government’s efforts to consolidate control over weapons outside the state’s authority. They gave Iraqi authorities until Aug. 8 to halt disarmament measures and said their response against the United States was “inevitable” after the Arbaeen pilgrimage, adding that it could extend to “the American enemy’s tools in Saudi Arabia if circumstances require.”
Al-Zaidi’s visit to Riyadh was subsequently postponed indefinitely.
The factions’ public statements closely mirrored the allegations attributed to each group.
The Badr Organization, led by Hadi al-Amiri, described the strikes as an “unjustified and criminal act of aggression” and called on the government to take a firm position.
Harakat al-Nujaba threatened retaliation, called for ending cooperation with Saudi Arabia, while Saraya Awliya al-Dam demanded the expulsion of the Saudi ambassador and the severing of diplomatic and economic ties with Riyadh.
Qais al-Khazali, secretary-general of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, said targeting an Iraqi security force on Iraqi territory constituted a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
Shiite nationalist leader Muqtada al-Sadr, however, struck a different tone, saying that “undisciplined militias should not give anyone a pretext to bomb Iraq,” while urging the government to enforce security and uphold state sovereignty.
The National Security Council, for its part, approved a comprehensive security plan aimed at preventing future violations of Iraq’s sovereignty and ensuring that no domestic actor threatens neighboring countries— suggesting Baghdad recognizes that the source of those threats lies within Iraq itself.
Questions Remain
Responsibility for the attacks that preceded the strikes remains contested.
On July 27, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” denied responsibility for attacks on Saudi facilities and warned of a “harsh” response. “Saraya Awliya al-Dam” likewise denied involvement in attacks targeting Erbil or Kuwait.
Adapted and translated from the original Arabic.
