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Iraq
Fears over Iranian proxies’ Iraq missile factories
2018-09-02
[ARABNEWS] Iraqi armed factions backed by Iran have been working for months to develop ballistic missiles and are threatening to use them against American forces in the country, Shiite commanders and Iraqi security officials told Arab News.

Improved missile technology being developed by Iranian proxy forces in another country in the Middle East will be of grave concern to Arab countries and the US.

Iran is already accused of supplying Houthi
...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews ...
militias in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...
with ballistic missiles that are fired at Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
, and helping Hezbollah build factories in Leb that produce similar weapons.

Iran has been financing and equipping dozens of Shiite and Sunni bad boy groups operating in Iraq since 2005. Some have become the most powerful military groups in Iraq and the region, including Badr Organization, Assaib Ahl al-Haq, Kattaib Hezbollah-Iraq and Saraya al-Kharasani.

All of the groups fought against ISIS over the last four years under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization, alongside the regular Iraqi military and which was backed by the US-led coalition in Iraq.

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Although most of these groups have been equipped by Iran, many have established factories to manufacture they own weapons across the country.

They succeeded in producing some short-range missiles such as al-Ashtar, al-Muntaqim and al-Qaher, and have moved on to expand the ranges of these missiles.

The most advanced ‐ al-Fatah ‐ is the result two years work, a senior Shiite commander within the Saraya al-Kharassani faction told Arab News.

He said the ranges of the latest versions are still unclear as they have not yet had a chance to test them.

"All the (Shiite) armed factions have participated in this by using Iraqi and foreign experts," he said. "The missiles are ready but have not been used before. We may experiment them in the next few days near the border in Basra."

A report by Rooters on Friday said ballistic missiles had been transferred from Iran to Iraq over the past few months to threaten Iran’s enemies in the region.

The report said the missiles had a range of between 200 and 700 kilometers, putting Riyadh or the Israeli city of Tel Aviv within striking distance if the weapons were deployed in southern or western Iraq.

Shiite commanders and Iraqi security officials, however, told Arab News that these missiles have been built in Iraq and their range has not yet been tested to be classified as medium-range. They said their use for targets outside Iraq has not even discussed.

Posted by:Fred

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