Urgent American recommendation to include Badr leader on terrorist list

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Shafaq News / The Republican Studies Committee of the U.S. Congress recommended the inclusion of Iraqi armed militias loyal to Iran in the list of terrorist groups, as part of a lengthy report on the activities of the entities and personalities involved in passing the agenda of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen.

The report said that the Revolutionary Guards had established, trained and managed groups such as Badr Organization - the oldest Iranian organization in Iraq - that fought alongside Iran in the Iran-Iraq war.

The report added that the leader of Badr Organization, Hadi al-Amiri, was involved in a terrorist attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad in December 2019.

The report stated that since the emergence of Islamic State (ISIS) in 2014, the US State Department has granted Iraq about $ 1.2 billion in military aid, in addition to $ 4.2 million to train Iraqi forces. The U.S. Department of Defense provided $ 4 billion to Iraqi forces in the war against ISIS.

During most of that period, the Iraqi Ministry of Interior was under the control of Badr Organization - which operates by proxy for Iran - through back then , the Minister of Interior Qassim al-Araji.

Although the organization is no longer officially the Ministry of the Interior, it still plays a major role in it, as the federal police leaders are active in Badr Organization.

The report pointed out that although many Iranian groups have been included in the terrorist list, such as Fatimiyoun, Zaynabiyun, Al-Najaba, and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, many of the movements supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard have not yet been classified.

The report recommended to Congress that Badr Organization and al-Amri should be classified in the terrorism list, along with other Iranian militias in Iraq, such as the Imam Ali Brigades, Saraya al-Khorasani, the Brigades of Sayed Al-Shuhadaa, Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas Brigade, Al-Awfiya Movement, Jund Al-Islam Movement, and Ashura Brigades.

The report pointed out that these militias were not the only Iranian groups that signed a statement in April 2020 pledging to combat the United States.

The report stressed that it is necessary for Congress to request an annual report from the U.S. State Department, on the new entities that are run by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in Iraq.

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