{"applied_filters":{"end_date":"","lang":"","language":"","network":"","page":1,"per_page":20,"search":"","source":"","start_date":"","topic":"Security & Conflict","type":""},"available_filters":{"language_choices":[{"label":"Choose Language","value":""},{"label":"Arabic","value":"Arabic"}],"network_choices":[{"label":"All networks","value":""},{"label":"Alhurra","value":"Alhurra"}],"source_choices":[{"label":"All sources","value":""},{"label":"Alhurra","value":"alhurra"}],"sources":["alhurra"],"topics":["250em\u00een Salvegera Serxweb\u00fbna Amer\u00eekay\u00ea","250\u0647\u06d5\u0645\u06cc\u0646 \u0633\u0627\u06b5\u06cc\u0627\u062f\u06cc \u0633\u06d5\u0631\u0628\u06d5\u062e\u06c6\u06cc\u06cc \u0626\u06d5\u0645\u06d5\u0631\u06cc\u06a9\u0627","8 \u10e4\u10dd\u10e2\u10dd \u10d0\u10e0\u10e5\u10d8\u10d5\u10d8\u10d3\u10d0\u10dc","Abriendo Espacios","Afghanistan","Agenda hemisf\u00e9rica","Amer\u00eeka","Am\u00e9rica Latina, VENEZUELA, Maiquetia","Asuntos de Estado","Audiovisuales Mart\u00ed","Audiovisuales Mart\u00ed, Cuba turismo, crisis del turismo en Cuba","Audiovisuales Mart\u00ed, VENEZUELA, apagones","Barrio Adentro","Bernameya Televizyon\u00ee ya Rojane","Bernamey\u00ean radyoy\u00ea y\u00ean rojane","Bosna i Hercegovina","B\u00ecnh lu\u1eadn","Caf\u00e9 Digital","China","Como Come Cuba, cuba, Como Come Cuba","Cuba Habla","Cuba Habla, Cuba","Cuba al D\u00eda","Cuba al D\u00eda, Cuba","Cuba en la Memoria","C\u00eehan","De cara al sol","Derechos Humanos, cuba, exilio, c\u00e1ncer, Ram\u00f3n Sa\u00fal S\u00e1nchez","Economy & Trade","El futuro es ya","Especiales, Exilio cubano, Freedom tower, \"Libertad\", Torre de la Libertad de Miami, Exilio cubano en Miami","Especiales, jos\u00e9 mart\u00ed, Exilio cubano","Esperando un techo, cuba, crisis, vivienda, derrumbes, techo, paredes, EsperandounTecho","Foro abierto","Hablando claro","Human Rights","Info Mart\u00ed","Info Mart\u00ed , Brigada 2506","Info Mart\u00ed , Cuba","Info Mart\u00ed , Estados Unidos, Colombia","Info Mart\u00ed , Estados Unidos, VENEZUELA","Info Mart\u00ed , estados unidos, Venezuela","Info Mart\u00ed , presos politicos, torturas, VENEZUELA","Iran","Iran Briefing","Iz RSE sveta","Izme\u0111u redova","Kentu-Cubano, cuba, cubanos, Kentucky, migrantes, KentoCubano","Korea","Kyiv Independent","La libertad es una librer\u00eda","Laos","Las Noticias Como Son, Cuba","Las noticias como son","Lawton Libre","Liberaci\u00f3n","MBN Agenda","Magazine","Mart\u00ed Noticias A.M.","Mart\u00ed Noticias AM","Mart\u00ed en el Mundial 2026","Mozaik \u017eivota","Multimedija","Myanmar","Nicaragua al d\u00eda","Noticiero Mart\u00ed Noticias","Noticiero Mart\u00ed Noticias, Cuba","N\u00fb\u00e7ey\u00ean C\u00eehan\u00ea 1","N\u00fb\u00e7ey\u00ean C\u00eehan\u00ea 2","Pacific","Pe Agend\u0103","Pe Agend\u0103 cu Cristina Popu\u0219oi","Perspektiva","Politics & Policy","Programas de Radio Nuestra Am\u00e9rica","RFA Explains","RFA Mandarin Shorts","RFE/RL Shorts","Radio Mart\u00ed","Radyo","Security & Conflict","Ser Madre en cuba, cuba, hambre, r\u00e9gimen, madre, negligencia, Testimonios, Crisis Econ\u00f3mica, madre cubana, Crisis Alimentaria","Ser viejo en Cuba, cuba, cubanos, crisis, alimentos, ancianos, viejos, vejez","South China Sea","Srbija","Syria","Taller de prensa","Th\u1eddi S\u1ef1","Tibet","Trong n\u01b0\u1edbc","Ukraine","Uvid","Uyghur","VOA \ud55c\uad6d\uc5b4 \ubcf4\uc774\ub294 \ub77c\ub514\uc624","VOA\u4eca\u65e5\u7126\u70b9","Video","Videos","V\u00eedyo Galer\u00ee","Zaviri ispod povr\u0161ine","adri%C3%A1n del sol mi padre est%C3%A1 muy d%C3%A9bil"],"types":[["","All types"],["article","Articles"],["media","Media"]]},"has_next":false,"has_prev":false,"items":[{"article_body_paragraphs":["President Donald Trump said the latest round of U.S. strikes on Iran would not last long, even as Washington prepares to keep some of its forces deployed across the Middle East into 2027 \u2014 a sign that the confrontation with Tehran could outlive the current military campaign.","Speaking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, Trump said the renewed U.S. military operation against Iran would not continue \u201cfor a long period of time,\u201d following the fiercest exchange of attacks between the two countries since July.","But Trump left the door open to further strikes, saying U.S. forces were prepared to hit Iranian targets again \u201cany time we want.\u201d","Trump\u2019s comments came as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moved to extend the deployment of some U.S. troops and military assets in the Middle East, in some cases into 2027, according to The Wall Street Journal .","More than 50,000 U.S. military personnel are currently deployed in the region, according to U.S. Central Command. The American force includes warships, air-defense units, fighter aircraft and ground troops, giving Trump the ability to maintain military pressure on Iran even if the current round of strikes comes to an end.","The Washington Post reported this week that U.S. military leaders had objected to extending some deployments, warning that keeping troops and equipment in the Middle East for prolonged periods could undermine U.S. military readiness elsewhere.","The latest escalation followed a period in which the Trump administration had sought to intensify economic pressure on Tehran without expanding military operations. Washington imposed new sanctions and threatened action against countries and companies that continued doing business with Iran.","But the confrontation flared again this week after sweeping U.S. strikes on Iranian targets and Tehran\u2019s response with missile and drone attacks on sites in countries across the region.","U.S. Central Command said it struck sites belonging to Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Tuesday, including air-defense and radar systems, naval assets and facilities, mine-laying capabilities and communications sites.","CENTCOM said the strikes followed attempts by the Revolutionary Guard, which the United States designates as a terrorist organization, to target commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. military personnel.","Trump said one of the targets destroyed by U.S. forces was a missile that Iran had been developing to deploy mines in the strait. He said Tehran was also attempting to rebuild radar and missile systems that had previously been struck.","\u201cWe destroyed all the new equipment they tried to build near the Strait of Hormuz, some of it defensive and some of it offensive,\u201d Trump said, adding that the attack was \u201cvery heavy.\u201d","Iran responded with attacks it said targeted sites and bases linked to U.S. forces in Kuwait, Bahrain, Jordan and Iraq.","A U.S. official said preliminary assessments showed no casualties among American forces.","Kuwait\u2019s military said Thursday that its air defenses had intercepted Iranian missiles and drones. Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan have also reported intercepting attacks during the latest round of escalation.","The Iranian attacks drew sharp reactions from Gulf states that only weeks earlier had been pressing Washington to avoid an all-out war and give diplomacy more time.","The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday condemned Iranian attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq\u2019s Kurdistan region, calling them a \u201cflagrant violation\u201d of those countries\u2019 sovereignty and a threat to their security.","On Thursday, Trump spoke by telephone with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan about developments in the Middle East and efforts to address them, as well as bilateral cooperation, according to the UAE\u2019s state news agency, WAM.","Qatar adopted a similar position. Its Foreign Ministry said the continued Iranian attacks represented a \u201cdangerous escalation\u201d that could complicate efforts to contain tensions and undermine diplomatic initiatives.","The ministry held Iran \u201cfully legally responsible\u201d for the attacks and their consequences and called for an end to military operations and a return to dialogue.","The response reflects a shift among some Gulf states, which had urged Trump in early August to avoid a major attack on Iran. With Iranian attacks now reaching the territory of countries across the region, those governments are confronting more directly the risks of a widening conflict.","Trump has not specified when the latest strikes will end or what conditions could bring the campaign to a halt.","On Tuesday, he said the United States was in a \u201cmuch better position,\u201d pointing to what he described as near-total control of the Strait of Hormuz and the pressure facing Iran\u2019s economy.","But he went beyond the stated objectives of the military campaign when he called on Iranians to rise up against their government, asking: \u201cWhen will the Iranian people rise up and fight?\u201d","While Trump\u2019s comments suggest the current round of fighting could be brief, the scale of the U.S. military presence in the region \u2014 and the extension of some deployments \u2014 indicate that Washington is preserving its ability to resume strikes quickly if the president chooses to do so.","Adapted and translated from the original Arabic."],"audio_source_url":null,"author":"Alhurra","available_dubs":[],"downloadable_assets":[],"duration_display":"0:00","duration_seconds":null,"embed_url":null,"id":14120,"image_caption":null,"image_url":"https://i0.wp.com/alhurra.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2026-09-02T232744Z_1989058961_RC2BBNA0NAQM_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP.jpg?fit=1920%2C1280&ssl=1","is_clip":false,"is_youtube_embed":false,"item_type":"article","item_type_label":"Article","language_label":"English","media_credit":"Alhurra","micro_label":"Photo","micro_label_kind":"gallery","network_label":"Alhurra","network_logo_url":"/static/uploads/direct_network_logos/alhurra_d529a7a850f2.png","published_at":"2026-09-03T16:12:04","published_at_display":"3 Sep 2026, 16:12 GMT","sequence_badge_label":null,"sequence_count":null,"sequence_count_label":null,"sequence_frames":[],"sequence_kind":null,"source_name":"alhurra","source_name_label":"Alhurra","source_type":"scrape","summary":"President Donald Trump said the latest round of U.S. strikes on Iran would not last long, even as Washington prepares to keep some of its forces deployed across the Middle East into 2027 \u2014 a sign that the confrontation with Tehran could outlive the current military campaign. Speaking to reporters at the White House on [\u2026]","title":"Iran War: Trump Says New U.S. Strike Campaign \u2018Won\u2019t Last Long\u2019","topic":"Security & Conflict","translation_language":"","url":"https://alhurra.com/en/37557","video_url":null,"youtube_conversion_active":false,"youtube_conversion_error":"","youtube_conversion_status":""},{"article_body_paragraphs":["Iraqi officials often insist that the Popular Mobilization Forces are an integral part of the country\u2019s national security apparatus. They point to a 2016 law passed by Iraq\u2019s Parliament that formally incorporated the forces into the armed services and placed them under the prime minister\u2019s direct supervision.","That may be true on paper. On the ground, however, the reality is markedly different. The PMF is an umbrella organization comprising military brigades affiliated with armed factions that retain varying degrees of organizational independence and differ sharply in their ideologies, political loyalties, ties to Iran and relationships with Iraq\u2019s religious authorities.","The Iraqi government is now seeking to fully integrate these factions into the formal security establishment and has given them until the end of September to surrender their weapons to the state. But some of the most powerful groups \u2014 and those closest to Iran \u2014 have said they have no intention of doing so.","According to Iraqi sources close to the government who spoke to MBN this week, an agreement has been reached under which the factions would hand over their weapons exclusively to the Popular Mobilization Commission rather than directly to the Iraqi government. The arrangement was based on a proposal put forward by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf during his latest visit to Baghdad on Aug. 19.","The Iraqi government has not officially announced such an agreement. But Sabah al-Numan, the military spokesman for the prime minister, told MBN that the plan calls for weapons to be handed over to the PMF and then reorganized, on the grounds that \u201cthe PMF is an Iraqi security institution under the law and is subject to the orders of the commander in chief of the armed forces.\u201d","The United States opposes the PMF\u2019s growing influence and regards most of its constituent factions as instruments of Iranian power in Iraq. Washington has repeatedly carried out airstrikes on bases belonging to PMF factions in retaliation for attacks on American interests in the country. It has also imposed sanctions on senior PMF officials.","The United States \u201cfully supports disarming the factions and handing their weapons over to Iraq\u2019s central government,\u201d a senior administration official told MBN last week.","The PMF\u2019s Power Structure","Figures close to Iran control the most important positions within the Popular Mobilization Commission, including its chairmanship, chief of staff\u2019s office, and security and intelligence operations. They also command several of the most prominent military formations and armed factions under its umbrella.","The commission is headed by Iraqi politician Falih al-Fayyadh, who has been under U.S. sanctions since 2021 over accusations that he committed serious human rights abuses in Iraq.","When the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Fayyadh, it said he had been a member of a crisis cell supported by Iran\u2019s Quds Force that included prominent armed-faction leaders. It also said PMF personnel had used live ammunition during the crackdown on the Tishreen (October) protest movement, which began in October 2019.","Fayyadh, a former national security adviser, controls administrative and financial affairs, according to a PMF official who spoke to MBN. The commission\u2019s chief of staff, Abdul Aziz al-Muhammadawi, better known as Abu Fadak and also under U.S. sanctions , is considered the organization\u2019s de facto commander because he oversees and coordinates its military and field operations.","The official, who requested anonymity, said decisions involving combat operations and weapons within the PMF are managed by Muhammadawi, although some are controlled separately by individual factions.","The PMF can be divided into three main blocs. Iran-aligned factions form the largest, including the Badr Organization, Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba and Asaib Ahl al-Haq. Except for Badr, all other groups are designated as terrorist organizations by the United States.","The organization also includes Saraya al-Salam, which is affiliated with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, as well as several factions linked to Iraq\u2019s senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani. Sunni tribal units and Turkmen, Shabak, Yazidi, Christian and other local formations are also represented but wield little influence within the PMF.","\u201cAbu Fadak\u201d","Kataib Hezbollah offers perhaps the clearest example of how an Iran-aligned faction has come to dominate the PMF\u2019s most important decision-making centers. In addition to controlling three brigades \u2014 the 45th, 46th and 47th \u2014 senior Kataib Hezbollah figures hold key positions in the commission\u2019s command and security structures. The faction\u2019s influence therefore extends from combat units to the institution\u2019s highest levels of authority.","The most prominent of these figures is Abdul Aziz al-Muhammadawi, or Abu Fadak, a senior Kataib Hezbollah commander who became PMF chief of staff in 2021. He has since emerged as the organization\u2019s leading operational official, and American studies describe him as one of the main figures overseeing its day-to-day activities.","Muhammadawi succeeded Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the founder of Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq, who was killed alongside Qassem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran\u2019s Quds Force, in a U.S. strike near Baghdad airport in January 2020.","The faction\u2019s reach extends beyond the chief of staff\u2019s office. In June 2024, PMF Chairman Falih al-Fayyadh appointed Hussein Falih Aziz al-Lami, known as Abu Zainab al-Lami, as deputy chief of staff. Lami, another senior Kataib Hezbollah commander, had previously headed the PMF Security Directorate, the body responsible for disciplining PMF commanders and personnel who violate orders or regulations.","Both Muhandis and Abu Fadak have been designated as terrorists by the United States. Lami has been under U.S. sanctions since 2019 over allegations of serious human rights abuses during the crackdown on the Tishreen protests.","Washington also says that although the PMF was created in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group, many of its factions have increasingly focused on advancing their own economic interests and supporting Iran\u2019s regional agenda in Iraq rather than protecting the Iraqi state or its citizens.","The 2016 law defined the Popular Mobilization Commission as an independent legal entity, part of the armed forces and directly answerable to the commander in chief. It also barred its members from political and partisan activity.","But the law is one thing, and the way the institution operates in practice is another, according to a former Iraqi government adviser who spoke to MBN on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.","\u201cAt present, Muhammadawi controls most of the movements of the factions within the PMF, coordinating exclusively with the leader of each armed group, even when those movements conflict with the central government\u2019s position,\u201d the former adviser said.","\u201cThey simply inform the Iraqi government that they will move in one direction or another; they do not seek its permission,\u201d he added. \u201cSometimes the government is not informed at all, which is why clashes and overlaps in authority occasionally occur.\u201d","Over the past five years, a series of incidents has exposed the strained relationship between the Iraqi government and the PMF and its affiliated factions, raising questions about the limits of the commander-in-chief\u2019s authority over these groups.","The arrest of Abbas al-Yaqoubi, the PMF\u2019s director of intelligence operations for the Baghdad Belt, marked the latest confrontation over the boundaries of their respective powers.","In mid-August 2026, Iraqi security forces arrested Yaqoubi, who is also a commander in the U.S.-designated terrorist group Harakat al-Nujaba, on allegations related to drone attacks.","Just one day later, Yaqoubi was handed over to the Popular Mobilization Commission, which announced that it had released him without charge.","Only days afterward, a joint Iraqi force conducted an operation in Baghdad that resulted in the arrest of four PMF members. They included Abu Jaafar, a member of the commission\u2019s chief of staff office, who was detained at his home in the Baladiyat district of eastern Baghdad. Hours later, however, authorities announced that the detainees had also been transferred to the PMF.","The former government adviser said Nujaba and allied factions had threatened to blockade Baghdad\u2019s Green Zone and enter into an armed confrontation with the Iraqi government unless the detainees were released or handed over to the PMF.","The episode recalled events under former Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi. In June 2020, Kadhimi ordered a raid on a Kataib Hezbollah base in Baghdad after the group was accused of preparing attacks on the Green Zone and American interests.","Thirteen Kataib Hezbollah members were arrested but later handed over to the PMF Security Directorate and released after the militia threatened to storm the Green Zone.","Another confrontation occurred in July 2025, when PMF members affiliated with Kataib Hezbollah stormed the Karkh Agriculture Directorate building in Baghdad. A clash with federal police forces followed, resulting in casualties.","The Iraqi government said at the time that PMF units had acted without orders and acknowledged a breakdown in command and control.","Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist","Statements by senior PMF officials, in addition to these incidents, suggest that their actions are tied to external authorities and are not governed solely by the Iraqi state.","In April 2024, Abu Fadak said he was awaiting a decision and position from Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, before responding to the bombing of the Iranian consulate in Damascus.","Before that, Akram al-Kaabi, the leader of the PMF-affiliated Nujaba group, declared in August 2016 that he followed \u201cthe path of the guardianship of the Islamic jurist under the leadership of Grand Ayatollah Khamenei,\u201d according to Iran\u2019s Tasnim News Agency.","The PMF also hosts Iranian advisers, as demonstrated by U.S.-Saudi strikes on its positions in early August 2026 that killed several of them.","Those strikes confirmed what MBN reported in April about the important role Iranian advisers have played in reshaping Iraq\u2019s armed factions, including their organization, weaponry and combat doctrine.","Describing the advisers\u2019 work in Iraq, a former Iraqi government official told MBN: \u201cIt is a secret world about which we know very little. We know only that they were here before and that, ahead of the latest war between Washington and Tehran, others were sent to work in Iraq.","\u201cThe advisers are present, but their presence is not officially acknowledged,\u201d added the former official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. \u201cThey operate under the protection and umbrella of the PMF, not within the other branches of the regular armed forces.\u201d","The former official said the PMF provides for the advisers\u2019 needs, while the advisers issue orders and the PMF \u201ccarries them out on the ground.\u201d","\u201cThere is a group of key power brokers within the PMF,\u201d he said. \u201cI am not talking here about ordinary members, but about those who possess decision-making authority. They are either Iranians working as advisers, Iraqis who hold Iranian citizenship or have lived in Iran for long periods, or people with Iranian citizenship who live in Iraq. It is a mixture of all of these.\u201d","The Popular Mobilization Commission has tens of thousands of fighters. Iraqi budget figures from recent years and statements by PMF officials indicate that it has more than 200,000 personnel, though there is no independent, reliable figure establishing the true number.","The PMF\u2019s annual budget is roughly $3 billion, according to one of its officials, who said most of the money allocated to the organization is spent on salaries and weapons.","The official said all factions, including those refusing to surrender their weapons, receive their salaries through the Popular Mobilization Commission.","An Iraqi parliamentary source said the government exercises no control over those funds. It allocates money to the PMF in the national budget and transfers it to the commission without knowing how it is spent or the true number of personnel receiving payments.","The problem is not new. Former Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi raised it in November 2017, when he said the PMF\u2019s payroll included fictitious names and accused some commanders of exploiting the salary system by registering fighters who did not exist.","Abadi said at the time that he had ordered an investigation into the distribution of PMF salaries to ensure the money reached actual fighters.","\u201cNo one dared to pursue the investigations, either because of the influence wielded by PMF leaders or because of political deals that were struck,\u201d the parliamentary source told MBN.","The Root of the Problem","Critics say many of the problems facing the PMF today can be traced to the way its governing law was drafted in 2016. The legislation was brief, consisting of only three articles, and did not spell out the mechanisms for command and control, weapons management or the organization and operation of the force. Fundamental questions were left unresolved.","The law granted the PMF formal status within the armed forces but failed to provide enough detail on how to unify its formations, ensure their genuine submission to a single chain of command, or regulate their relationship with factions that retained their previous leadership and organizational structures.","Over the years, that legal ambiguity has helped preserve the gap between formal authority and actual control over some PMF formations.","\u201cThe law did not establish a hierarchical institutional structure or clear mechanisms for oversight and discipline,\u201d said Aqeel Abbas, a fellow with the Atlantic Council\u2019s Iraq Initiative under its Middle East programs. \u201cIt linked the PMF directly to the prime minister in his capacity as commander in chief of the armed forces, without creating a higher institution to monitor the regular, day-to-day enforcement of Defense Ministry regulations.","\u201cUnlike the army, where the chief of staff and the Defense Ministry perform oversight and accountability functions, the PMF was largely left to manage itself,\u201d Abbas added. \u201cThis institutional vacuum created most of the problems the PMF faces today and made its chief of staff the most important figure within it.\u201d","The viability of transferring the factions\u2019 weapons to the PMF is therefore directly tied to the problems created by the law\u2019s wording, particularly the lack of clear institutional command and oversight mechanisms. That raises the question of whether handing the weapons to an institution that still suffers from these shortcomings would truly end the factions\u2019 autonomy.","\u201cTransferring weapons from an armed faction to the PMF will mean very little if the same faction-affiliated commanders retain effective control over those weapons and continue to operate with political or military independence,\u201d Hayder al-Shakeri, a researcher at Chatham House, told MBN.","The Iraqi government\u2019s deadline for bringing all weapons under state control expires on Sept. 30, coinciding with the end of the international coalition\u2019s mission. Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi has instructed security forces in several meetings to prepare to carry out his orders if the factions refuse to surrender their weapons by the deadline.","Asaib Ahl al-Haq and Kataib al-Imam Ali announced on June 2 that they were severing their ties with PMF formations and beginning steps to place their weapons under state control. Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada and Harakat al-Nujaba, by contrast, continue to hold on to their arsenals.","Like successive Iraqi governments since 2003, the Zaidi government is trying to balance its relations with Washington and Tehran, both of which wield political, economic and security influence in the country.","By proposing that the factions transfer their weapons to the Popular Mobilization Commission, Iran appears to be trying to buy time and ensure that its influence in Iraq \u2014 exercised through allied armed groups \u2014 survives the coalition\u2019s withdrawal.","\u201cThe final withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq has been an Iranian objective since Soleimani\u2019s killing,\u201d said Ibrahim al-Marashi, an associate professor of Middle East history at California State University.","\u201cIf Iran can keep its proxies intact,\u201d he told MBN, \u201cit will have achieved a strategic objective.\u201d","Adapted and translated from the original Arabic."],"audio_source_url":null,"author":"Ghassan Taqi","available_dubs":[],"downloadable_assets":[],"duration_display":"0:00","duration_seconds":null,"embed_url":null,"id":14121,"image_caption":null,"image_url":"https://i0.wp.com/alhurra.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2026-03-01T224041Z_1971825209_RC2YVJAIQHYK_RTRMADP_3_IRAN-CRISIS-GULF-IRAQ-e1788210092952.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","is_clip":false,"is_youtube_embed":false,"item_type":"article","item_type_label":"Article","language_label":"English","media_credit":"Ghassan Taqi","micro_label":"Photo","micro_label_kind":"gallery","network_label":"Alhurra","network_logo_url":"/static/uploads/direct_network_logos/alhurra_d529a7a850f2.png","published_at":"2026-09-03T14:52:43","published_at_display":"3 Sep 2026, 14:52 GMT","sequence_badge_label":null,"sequence_count":null,"sequence_count_label":null,"sequence_frames":[],"sequence_kind":null,"source_name":"alhurra","source_name_label":"Alhurra","source_type":"scrape","summary":"Iraqi officials often insist that the Popular Mobilization Forces are an integral part of the country\u2019s national security apparatus. They point to a 2016 law passed by Iraq\u2019s Parliament that formally incorporated the forces into the armed services and placed them under the prime minister\u2019s direct supervision. That may be true on paper. On the [\u2026]","title":"Who Holds the Keys to Iraq\u2019s Popular Mobilization Forces?","topic":"Security & Conflict","translation_language":"","url":"https://alhurra.com/en/37482","video_url":null,"youtube_conversion_active":false,"youtube_conversion_error":"","youtube_conversion_status":""},{"article_body_paragraphs":["Israel and Greece unveiled their \u201cAchilles Shield\u201d defense deal Monday as Tel Aviv\u2019s relations with Turkey are sharply deteriorating, raising questions over whether the multibillion-dollar agreement is part of a broader effort to counter Ankara\u2019s growing regional clout.","In announcing the largest defense deal ever struck between Israel and Greece \u2013 a historic military rival to Turkey \u2014 Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz did not name a specific adversary. But he echoed other recent Israeli criticism of Turkey in warning of \u201cactors with hegemonic ambitions seeking to expand their influence and destabilize the region,\u201d saying Israel and Greece would work together to safeguard their security and shared interests.","Katz spoke after signing the Achilles Shield deal, valued at more than 10 billion shekels, or about $3.3 billion. Under the agreement, Israel will build a multilayered Greek air-defense network designed to counter aircraft, ballistic missiles and drones.","The package includes two air-defense systems from Rafael, David\u2019s Sling and Spyder, as well as Israel Aerospace Industries\u2019 Barak MX system. Other multifunction radars and a new national command-and-control system are also part of the deal. The two countries also signed a separate \u20ac26 million agreement for Rafael\u2019s Drone Dome system for countering unmanned aircraft systems.","The agreement goes well beyond the sale of interceptor systems. It calls for the construction of an integrated defense architecture, along with technology and knowledge transfers and measures to strengthen Greece\u2019s domestic defense industry \u2014 creating a long-term security relationship between the two countries rather than a one-off commercial transaction.","While the deal sends an immediate political message, the operational capabilities are not expected to be ready for roughly three years.","Dr. Gallia Lindenstrauss, a researcher specializing in Turkish affairs at Israel\u2019s Institute for National Security Studies, cautioned against drawing a direct connection between the agreement and the tensions that have gripped the region in recent weeks, particularly between Israel and Turkey.","\u201cThis is a complex deal that has been under discussion for a long time, and its completion is not connected to events of recent months,\u201d Lindenstrauss told MBN. She said the agreement had received preliminary approval around July and should not be viewed as a rapid military response to any particular development.","The systems involved are defensive, she added, and their delivery will take years. For that reason, she said, \u201cit would not be accurate to link the deal to an immediate event in the region.\u201d","Still, distinguishing between the deal\u2019s immediate context and its broader strategic trajectory does not remove Turkey from the equation. According to Lindenstrauss, the agreement reflects longer-term shifts in the Eastern Mediterranean, most notably the deepening relationship among Israel, Greece and Cyprus alongside widening disagreements between those countries and Ankara.","In that sense, Achilles Shield is the product of years of political and security developments that have made Turkey an increasingly important factor in Israeli-Greek strategic calculations.","Turkey\u2019s Growing Regional Role","The timing of the signing has reinforced an interpretation that stresses recent regional tensions. \u00a0Israel\u2019s public broadcaster reported that the Israeli Navy has for months been monitoring intensive Turkish military exercises and an expanded naval presence in the Mediterranean. Those developments, it said, have prompted preparations for the possibility that political strains could eventually spill into military confrontation, though there is no indication that any such clash is imminent.","Turkey Emerges as a Key Transit Point in Hezbollah Financing Networks","Israel is also closely monitoring Turkish activity in Syria. Earlier this month Israeli airstrikes targeted the Abu al-Duhur air base after receiving information that Ankara was preparing to deploy troops and a radar system there \u2014 a prospect Israel believed could restrict the Israeli Air Force\u2019s freedom of operation and alter the regional balance of power.","At the same time, Israeli security officials have stressed that Israel does not want to turn Turkey into an enemy state. Though the countries have withdrawn their respective ambassadors, covert channels of communication between the two sides remain open, they say, allowing them to exchange messages and reduce the risk of an unintended military confrontation.","A Changing Defense Landscape","The Israel-Greece deal is being struck as defense alignments are being reshaped across the region. On Aug. 7, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed the \u201cMecca Mutual Defense Agreement,\u201d under which an armed attack on any one of the three countries would be considered an attack on all of them. The full details of their practical commitments and the mechanisms governing any intervention, however, have not been made public.","That does not necessarily mean the region is divided into two opposing blocs, nor that the two agreements are directly aimed at one another. But they point to an accelerating push to build new security networks based on mutual defense, technology, military exercises and increasingly integrated defense industries.","For Greece, Turkey remains a historic military rival because of longstanding disputes over the Aegean Sea, Cyprus and maritime boundaries. For Israel, the relationship with Ankara is more complicated. Over the past several decades, the two countries have moved between close security and economic cooperation and periods of deep estrangement. Relations have now reached an unprecedented level of tension over Gaza, Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean. Some political observers have said the friction is also driven by the personalities and domestic political calculations of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, both of whom have sought to bolster their standing at home.","Ankara may view Achilles Shield as part of a broader strengthening of Greece\u2019s military capabilities and an extension of the trilateral partnership among Israel, Greece and Cyprus. Yet the defensive nature of the systems involved, coupled with the years-long implementation period, allows Israel to argue that it is not constructing an offensive alliance directed against Turkey.","Ultimately, the deal will not transform the balance of power in the Mediterranean overnight, nor will it give Athens a fully operational Israeli-built defensive umbrella within weeks. But it lays the foundations for a strategic architecture that could endure for decades, tying Greece\u2019s air defenses increasingly closely to Israeli technology and expertise.","Adapted and translated from the original Arabic."],"audio_source_url":null,"author":"Yehia Qasim","available_dubs":[],"downloadable_assets":[],"duration_display":"0:00","duration_seconds":null,"embed_url":null,"id":14152,"image_caption":null,"image_url":"https://i0.wp.com/alhurra.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/bc8093fd-dcc6-4e4d-a2d3-c7582bfe8d17.jpg?fit=1280%2C921&ssl=1","is_clip":false,"is_youtube_embed":false,"item_type":"article","item_type_label":"Article","language_label":"English","media_credit":"Yehia Qasim","micro_label":"Photo","micro_label_kind":"gallery","network_label":"Alhurra","network_logo_url":"/static/uploads/direct_network_logos/alhurra_d529a7a850f2.png","published_at":"2026-08-31T19:01:18","published_at_display":"31 Aug 2026, 19:01 GMT","sequence_badge_label":null,"sequence_count":null,"sequence_count_label":null,"sequence_frames":[],"sequence_kind":null,"source_name":"alhurra","source_name_label":"Alhurra","source_type":"scrape","summary":"Israel and Greece unveiled their \u201cAchilles Shield\u201d defense deal Monday as Tel Aviv\u2019s relations with Turkey are sharply deteriorating, raising questions over whether the multibillion-dollar agreement is part of a broader effort to counter Ankara\u2019s growing regional clout. In announcing the largest defense deal ever struck between Israel and Greece \u2013 a historic military rival [\u2026]","title":"Israel and Greece\u2019s \u2018Achilles Shield\u2019 Deal: Why Now?","topic":"Security & Conflict","translation_language":"","url":"https://alhurra.com/en/36828","video_url":null,"youtube_conversion_active":false,"youtube_conversion_error":"","youtube_conversion_status":""},{"article_body_paragraphs":["U.S. sanctions imposed this month have shed light on the role Turkey plays in moving money from Iran to Hezbollah.","Where once the Assad government in Syria provided a dependable link between the two, its collapse has forced a more dispersed network that relies on cash, couriers, commercial flights and cryptocurrencies.","The Treasury Department on Aug. 20 designated 10 people as part of a network it said moves hundreds of millions of dollars between Lebanon, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Iran. The network enables Hezbollah to obtain foreign currency outside the formal financial system to keep its operations funded despite U.S. sanctions, according to the Treasury.","Washington alleges at the center of the network is Turkish businessman Younes Alper Yilmaz. According to the Treasury, Yilmaz uses exchange offices, which process high volumes of currency exchanges and remittances, companies and bank accounts to transfer money linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps\u2019 Quds Force, which Washington designates as a terrorist organization.","Other members of the network collect the money, arrange its movement or carry cash to Lebanon. The U.S. is not alleging that Turkey\u2019s government plays a role in the transfers.","The system appears to rely less on a single route than on a series of interchangeable links, allowing one part of the network to be replaced when necessary.","Lebanese economic expert, Khaled Abu Shakra told MBN that Iran and entities linked to it cannot rely on official channels to transfer money because of sanctions. That pushes them toward alternatives such as cash and digital currencies, he said.","On Feb. 28, 2025, Lebanese authorities seized $2.5 million in cash from a passenger who had arrived from Turkey. Sources told Reuters that it was headed to Hezbollah. Lebanon\u2019s Finance Ministry confirmed the seizure but did not disclose the destination of the money.","The incident followed an Israeli complaint to the cease-fire monitoring committee, a U.S. led group overseeing the 2024 agreement between Israel and Hezbollah, several weeks earlier over allegations that money was being brought into Lebanon by air. The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had alleged that Iranian diplomats and Turkish citizens were carrying money into Beirut for the Iranian aligned group.","Lebanese authorities have barred Iranian aircraft from landing in Beirut after Israel accused Tehran of using civilian flights to transfer money to Hezbollah. That action followed a Jan. 2, 2025, dispute at the Beirut airport over the inspection of two bags belonging to an Iranian diplomat who had arrived from Tehran. The Iranian Embassy later said the bags contained money and documents intended for the embassy.","The suspension of Iranian flights to Beirut necessitated the need for new routes and means. Instead of a direct flights between Iran and Lebanon, the movement of money now is alleged to be delivered via multiple countries and individuals.","The latest U.S. sanctions target the people who are allegedly involved in these efforts.","Why Turkey?","Turkey has several characteristics that make it attractive as a transit point for financial networks. These include its proximity to Iran and Lebanon, extensive air links and regional trade, as well as its large economy and the large number of people who fly through and from the country.","Hisham al-Najjar, a researcher specializing in Islamic political movements, counterterrorism and Middle Eastern geopolitical affairs., said these characteristics help explain Turkey\u2019s emergence as a financial transit point.","He told MBN that the latest sanctions demonstrated how exchange companies, front entities and cash couriers can be used to keep money outside banking channels subject to scrutiny.","The presence of a financial network in Turkey, however, does not necessarily mean the Turkish government sponsors it, said Turkish political researcher Hisham Gunay.","He noted that Turkish authorities previously arrested several people involved in an organization known as Tawhid Salam, allegedly an Iranian-linked terrorist network that included Turkish and Iranian businessmen.","Ankara has also been at odds with Hezbollah since the Syrian war, when the Lebanese group fought alongside Assad\u2019s government. Turkey supported the dissident groups fighting Assad.","The Point of Arrival","Moving cash outside of formal channels has become more difficult, \u201calthough that does not mean this method has disappeared,\u201d Abu Shakra said.","In July 2025, Lebanon\u2019s central bank introduced measures aimed blocking unlicensed entities subject to foreign sanctions.","The purchase of dollars from the market has also been restricted to Banque du Liban, Lebanon\u2019s central bank, under stricter anti-money laundering standards. Previously, such transactions were carried out through several money-transfer and exchange companies.","A major vulnerability remains Lebanon\u2019s cash-based economy. Abu Shakra estimates that cash accounts for between 50% and 60% of transactions in Lebanon, increasing the risk of money laundering.","But cash is not the only alternative. Abu Shakra told MBN that the use of digital currencies, particularly USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the U.S. dollar, has increased in recent years.","That has prompted U.S. authorities to extend enforcement efforts to digital assets and cryptocurrency wallets. Freezing a wallet on a blockchain prevents the funds in it from being used once its connection to a targeted network has been established. But new wallets can still be created.","Another problem spot is northern Cyprus, where the prevalence of gambling clubs allows cash to be converted into digital assets without stringent customer-identification procedures, Abu Shakra said.","That helps explain the evolution of U.S. sanctions from targeting recipients of money to targeting the infrastructure that allows funds to move and be used. The measures include freezing assets connected to the U.S. financial system, prohibiting transactions with designated individuals and entities, and exposing money changers, intermediaries and front companies to significant financial and legal risks.","As the traditional Syrian route for money transfers has declined a far more diffuse network has taken its place. There is no single \u201cTurkish route,\u201d but rather a broad restructuring of Hezbollah\u2019s financing networks that rely on multiple sources and access points.","It remains to be seen whether the latest U.S. sanctions can significantly reduce the flow of cash to the terrorist-designated group. Hezbollah\u2019s leaders, however, have repeatedly proven adept at circumventing efforts to cut them off from Iran.","Adapted and translated from the original Arabic."],"audio_source_url":null,"author":"Asrar Chbaro","available_dubs":[],"downloadable_assets":[],"duration_display":"0:00","duration_seconds":null,"embed_url":null,"id":14156,"image_caption":null,"image_url":"https://i0.wp.com/alhurra.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2025-11-02T110146Z_246447526_RC27OHAICL4L_RTRMADP_3_TURKEY-CITYSCAPE.jpg?fit=1920%2C1281&ssl=1","is_clip":false,"is_youtube_embed":false,"item_type":"article","item_type_label":"Article","language_label":"English","media_credit":"Asrar Chbaro","micro_label":"Photo","micro_label_kind":"gallery","network_label":"Alhurra","network_logo_url":"/static/uploads/direct_network_logos/alhurra_d529a7a850f2.png","published_at":"2026-08-31T14:31:45","published_at_display":"31 Aug 2026, 14:31 GMT","sequence_badge_label":null,"sequence_count":null,"sequence_count_label":null,"sequence_frames":[],"sequence_kind":null,"source_name":"alhurra","source_name_label":"Alhurra","source_type":"scrape","summary":"U.S. sanctions imposed this month have shed light on the role Turkey plays in moving money from Iran to Hezbollah. Where once the Assad government in Syria provided a dependable link between the two, its collapse has forced a more dispersed network that relies on cash, couriers, commercial flights and cryptocurrencies. The Treasury Department on [\u2026]","title":"Turkey Emerges as a Key Transit Point in Hezbollah Financing Networks","topic":"Security & Conflict","translation_language":"","url":"https://alhurra.com/en/36760","video_url":null,"youtube_conversion_active":false,"youtube_conversion_error":"","youtube_conversion_status":""},{"article_body_paragraphs":["It\u2019s not just the process of disarming Hezbollah that is proving harder for Lebanon than anticipated.","Last year, before that fraught effort was initiated as part of negotiations to end the U.S. war against Iran and its proxies, Palestinian groups in Lebanon started handing over their weapons under an agreed process that seemed to be working. Trucks left Palestinian refugee camps loaded with weapons, and the Lebanese Defense Forces took possession of them one after another. Official statements and photographs suggested that an issue that had long been beyond the Lebanese state authority to resolve was headed toward resolution.","But more than a year after Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas announced in May 2025 that \u201cthe era of weapons outside the authority of the Lebanese state is over,\u201d the picture has changed. The trucks have disappeared and the process has faded from view, with no official word on its status.","The camps were granted special security status in the 1969 Cairo Agreement, which transferred control of the refugee facilities from the Lebanese armed forces to the \u201cLeadership of the Palestinian Armed Struggle.\u201d","Lebanon\u2019s Parliament annulled that agreement in 1987, but its repercussions remained evident in relations between the state and the camps, as well as in the reality of Palestinian weapons inside them.","Lebanon has 12 official Palestinian refugee camps and a number of informal ones, the most prominent of which are Ain al-Hilweh and Rashidieh in the south; Shatila and Burj al-Barajneh in Beirut; and Beddawi and Nahr al-Bared in the north. UNRWA records show about 493,000 registered Palestinian refugees in the camps.","Last September, the Lebanese army said it had received five truckloads of weapons and ammunication from the Ain al-Hilweh camp in Sidon and three from the Beddawi camp in Tripoli. At the time, the process appeared to be advancing from one camp to another.","But the limits of the process were becoming plain. The weapons first handed over to the state were mostly held by factions affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization, while arsenals belonging to factions outside the PLO \u2014 foremost among them Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are designated as terrorist organizations by the United States \u2014 remained outside the handover process.","Differing Accounts","Hisham Dabsi, an adviser to the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee, told MBN that the process has neither been completed nor halted and that the Palestinian initiative remains ongoing.","He said the Fatah al-Intifada organization handed over its weapons at the Beddawi camp to the Lebanese army about two weeks ago, without objection.","A senior Palestinian official familiar with the issue told MBN that all the heavy weapons requested by the Lebanese state had been handed over, both inside and outside the camps.","The official said the Lebanese army had taken control of the camps belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in Naameh, Qousaya and Anjar, as well as the camps belonging to Fatah al-Intifada.","\u201cThere are no longer any heavy weapons,\u201d the official said, adding that what remains is primarily light weaponry \u201cthat no longer has any significant military value.\u201d","A Lebanese security source offered a more cautious assessment of what has been accomplished. \u201cThe quantities handed over are very limited,\u201d the person told MBN, adding that the camps still contain more weapons than those revealed during the handover operations.","The discrepancy between the two accounts remains difficult to resolve in the absence of an official inventory of the arsenals before the process began, how much was handed over and how much remains.","The main sticking point involves factions outside the PLO, foremost among them Hamas, because the Palestinian Authority lacks the authority to compel them to surrender their weapons.","Dabsi said Hamas is maneuvering to secure special concessions from the Lebanese state, including recognition that its presence is legitimate. The government and presidency, however, he said, remain committed to the principles set out in the president\u2019s inaugural address and the Cabinet\u2019s policy statement, which limit official relations to the Palestinian leadership and the Palestinian Embassy in Beirut.","Palestinian factions announced that the handover operations since August 2025 were specific to Fatah and not the beginning of a comprehensive disarmament process. They said they would not give up their weapons as long as \u201cthe Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories continues.\u201d","Dabsi of the Lebanese-Palestinian Dialogue Committee said any faction that refuses to implement Lebanese state decisions or those of the Palestinian leadership will be dealt with by the relevant Lebanese authorities, not by the PLO.","He stressed that no one has the right to bypass the authority of the Lebanese state and its armed forces, which have exclusive jurisdiction over the issue of illegal weapons and can address it in whatever manner and at whatever time they deem appropriate.","The process, in any case, has entered a new phase: What could be accomplished through an understanding with the Palestinian Authority has already been achieved. What remains involves factions over which Ramallah has no authority, shifting responsibility the Lebanese state itself.","A Delicate Equation","The uneven process of disarming the camps has yielded a new security risk, observers say.","Disarming Fatah and PLO factions while Hamas and Islamic Jihad retain their weapons upsets the balance of power, particularly in Ain al-Hilweh, where the areas of influence of different groups overlap.","That could expand the influence of factions that retain their weapons at the expense of those that have surrendered theirs, redrawing the balance of power inside the camps rather than ending armed groups.","There is also a Lebanese factor behind the slowdown, the Lebanese security source said, linking the process to the broader issue of placing all weapons under state control.","Completing the disarmament of Palestinian factions would put Hezbollah\u2019s weapons more squarely at the center of the debate, the person said.","The Lebanese state has put the issues of Palestinian weapons and those of Hezbollah, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, under a single political heading: getting weapons exclusively into the hands of legitimate state institutions.","The absence of images of trucks loaded with weapons does not necessarily mean the process has ended. But it does reveal that its nature has changed. Political coordination within the Palestinian factions has reached its limits. Now in the case of the Palestinian weapons as well as those of Hezbollah, the onus is increasingly on the Lebanese state itself.","Adapted and translated from the original Arabic."],"audio_source_url":null,"author":"Asrar Chbaro","available_dubs":[],"downloadable_assets":[],"duration_display":"0:00","duration_seconds":null,"embed_url":null,"id":14167,"image_caption":null,"image_url":"https://i0.wp.com/alhurra.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/2024-08-28T124428Z_1869085818_RC2ZO9AJFUC6_RTRMADP_3_ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS-LEBANON.jpg?fit=1920%2C1369&ssl=1","is_clip":false,"is_youtube_embed":false,"item_type":"article","item_type_label":"Article","language_label":"English","media_credit":"Asrar Chbaro","micro_label":"Photo","micro_label_kind":"gallery","network_label":"Alhurra","network_logo_url":"/static/uploads/direct_network_logos/alhurra_d529a7a850f2.png","published_at":"2026-08-29T04:45:00","published_at_display":"29 Aug 2026, 04:45 GMT","sequence_badge_label":null,"sequence_count":null,"sequence_count_label":null,"sequence_frames":[],"sequence_kind":null,"source_name":"alhurra","source_name_label":"Alhurra","source_type":"scrape","summary":"It\u2019s not just the process of disarming Hezbollah that is proving harder for Lebanon than anticipated. Last year, before that fraught effort was initiated as part of negotiations to end the U.S. war against Iran and its proxies, Palestinian groups in Lebanon started handing over their weapons under an agreed process that seemed to be [\u2026]","title":"Lebanon\u2019s Effort to Disarm Palestinian Camps Faces New Hurdles","topic":"Security & Conflict","translation_language":"","url":"https://alhurra.com/en/36569","video_url":null,"youtube_conversion_active":false,"youtube_conversion_error":"","youtube_conversion_status":""}],"next_num":null,"page":1,"pages":1,"per_page":20,"prev_num":null,"total":5}