Once Considered Foes, Iran-Backed Groups Get a Warm Welcome From Iraq

Hamas and the Houthis have opened offices in Baghdad, reflecting the two groups’ evolving relationship with Iraq as Tehran works to build a regional power bloc.

There is no sign on the door of the new Hamas political office in Baghdad, and the address is closely guarded. The same goes for the new Houthi office, a short drive away.

Iraqi government officials quietly allowed both Iranian-backed armed groups to establish a more permanent presence in Baghdad early this summer, after years of their representatives visiting. The shift, which Iraqi officials deny publicly even as photos of the groups in Iraq circulate on social media, comes as Iran has appeared to encourage its proxies from different countries to share military skills and even coordinate on targets.

The new offices reflect Iraq’s growing role in the shadow war between Iran, Israel and the United States.

For more than 20 years, since the U.S. invasion to oust the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, Iraq has struggled to maintain an uneasy balance between Iran, with which it shares a 1,000-mile border, and the United States, which still maintains about 2,500 troops in the country.

The balance has gradually shifted in favor of Iran. Iraq’s neighbor has worked steadily to amplify its geopolitical sway by expanding recruitment and funding of sympathetic forces inside Iraq. It is part of a larger effort by Tehran to build a regional bloc of Shiite power that extends to Lebanon with Hezbollah and to Yemen with the Houthis.

Iran in recent years pushed the Iraqi government to legitimize the country’s Shiite militias, some with loyalties to Tehran, as well as affiliated Sunni, Christian and Yazidi armed groups by making them part of Iraq’s security apparatus. The Shia forces have also created successful political parties, a coalition of which won enough seats in the 2021 election to choose the prime minister.