As Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi prepares for his first meeting with US President Donald Trump this week, attacks on American targets by pro-Iranian fighters have been on the rise.

With Tehran and Washington competing for influence in Iraq, the gulf between pro-Iranian factions and Baghdad's US-friendly premier is growing.

When Kadhemi meets Trump on Thursday for the first time, the top agenda for the Iraqi leader is the presence of 5,000 US troops deployed in his country.

Kadhemi, who took office in May, faces challenges from factions of the Hashed al-Shaabi, a coalition of Iraqi Shiite paramilitary groups with close ties to Iran.

The Hashed al-Shaabi is integrated into the Iraqi state, and its political representatives have called for the expulsion of US troops.

Pro-Iranian factions were hit hard by Washington's assassination in January of one of their top chiefs, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, in a strike that also killed top Iranian commander General Qasem Soleimani.

The Hashed denies any connection to a recent spate of anti-US attacks, but videos and claims on social media hint at its involvement, through groups operating under other names.

"The personnel that make up the new militias are most likely pulled from the membership of pre-existing armed groups that make up the Hashed al-Shaabi," said Ramzy Mardini, from The Pearson Institute at the University of Chicago.

Kadhemi -- far closer to Washington than his predecessor Nuri al-Maliki -- has angered armed groups by seizing border posts where they ran lucrative smuggling networks and imposed taxes on traders.

- 'League of Revolutionaries' -

Attacks have risen in recent weeks.

From October to the end of July, Iraqi armed factions carried out 39 rocket attacks against American interests in the country.

But after the White House earlier this month confirmed that Trump would meet Kadhemi on Thursday, the pace intensified.

Between August 4 and August 16, 13 bomb and rocket attacks targeted Iraqi logistics convoys for the US military, bases housing US soldiers and the US embassy.

While the impact has been limited, the attacks have served as a show of strength.

After an attack on a convoy in Iraq's south, a man was arrested in possession of bombs and a Hashed military ID card that allowed him to cross checkpoints without a search, an intelligence source told AFP.

Some attacks have been carried out by groups with other names including the "League of Revolutionaries".

"They operate under new banners to mask and protect the established militia leadership from facing possible retaliation," Mardini said.

"If these groups are operating outside the government, Baghdad is less likely to be held responsible and punished by Washington," he added.

But by increasing the number of attacks, it also sends a signal to Kadhemi that he cannot prevent attacks simply by raids and arrests against the militias.

At the end of June, 14 fighters from the Hezbollah Brigades, a Hashed faction, were arrested for attacks on Americans.

Three days later, 13 were released on the decision of a Hashed military judge.

- New conflict? -

For many Iraqis, the spate of violence increasingly reminds them of the jihadist attacks against US forces following the 2003 invasion.

Their videos appear to echo the propaganda produced by Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group, with slick special effects and religious songs.

In Iraq's largely Shiite Muslim south, where the recent attacks were concentrated, many fear the same fate as that of Iraq's Sunni regions, which was left in ruins by the war against the jihadists.

In a country that emerged 10 years ago from a bloody sectarian war between Sunnis and Shiites, the government fears a new conflict.

The strategy, several government officials say, is therefore to act -- but without naming groups responsible.

When a German hostage was freed in July, Baghdad did not blame anyone, even though officials said "factions claiming to be Hashed" were involved.

The assassination in July of researcher Hisham al-Hashimi, a close friend of Kadhemi who had studied the Hashed, had already been seen as a message to the prime minister.

But investigations into Hashimi's death have still not revealed anything -- one sign the government cannot be as tough as it may like.

Iraq-US relations since 2003
Baghdad (AFP) Aug 18, 2020 - As US President Donald Trump prepares to host Iraq's new Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi, here are key dates in relations between their countries since 2003.

- Invasion -

On March 20, 2003, the US leads an invasion of Iraq after claims that Saddam Hussein's regime is harbouring weapons of mass destruction.

On April 9, US forces take control of Baghdad, where a large statue of Saddam is symbolically toppled by an American tank amid celebrations by a crowd of Iraqis.

US President George W. Bush announces the end of major combat operations on May 1, but says the war against "terrorism" continues.

Civil administrator Paul Bremer announces the dissolution of the Iraqi military, the information ministry and other state security organisations and bars former officials of Saddam's Baath party from holding public sector jobs.

On October 2, a US report says no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq.

On December 13, Saddam is captured near Tikrit, north of Baghdad, after nine months on the run. He is hanged three years later.

The broadcast in April 2004 of images of torture and other abuse of Iraqi prisoners at the US-run Abu Ghraib military prison shocks the world.

Power is transferred to an interim government in June.

- Insurgency, sectarian conflict -

In November 2004, more than 10,000 American and 2,000 Iraqi soldiers attack the flashpoint Sunni city of Fallujah, which had become a symbol of resistance to the foreign presence, after the lynching of four Americans in March.

In February 2006, Al-Qaeda-linked Sunni extremists blow up a Shiite shrine in Samarra, sparking a wave of sectarian killings that leaves tens of thousands dead and lasts until 2008.

In January 2007, Bush announces the deployment of 30,000 more troops, bringing the total number to 165,000, saying the surge was needed to help Iraq's embattled government bring the situation under control.

- American soldiers depart -

In February 2009, new US president Barack Obama, who had deeply opposed the war in Iraq, says troops will be withdrawn by the end of 2011.

On December 18, 2011, the last American soldiers depart Iraq -- a country mired in a severe political crisis.

Between 2003 and 2011, more than 100,000 civilians were killed, according to the Iraq Body Count database. The United States has lost nearly 4,500 troops.

- Fighting the jihadists -

In January 2014, jihadists from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), later known as the Islamic State (IS) group, capture Fallujah and parts of Ramadi city, west of Baghdad.

In June they seize the northern city of Mosul and by the end of 2014 hold one-third of Iraq.

The United States intervenes directly in Iraq for the first time since its forces withdrew in 2011, bombarding jihadist positions which threaten Iraqi Kurdistan and thousands of Christians and Yezidis.

With the help of the US-led coalition, Iraqi forces drive IS from all the country's urban centres in a months-long military campaign.

In December 2017, Iraq declares victory against IS.

- Torn between US and Iran -

Since 2003, Washington's arch-enemy Iran, which supports factions of the Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary forces that played a crucial role against IS, has strengthened its influence and become a major trading partner with Iraq.

On December 31, 2019, thousands of Iraqis attack the US embassy in Baghdad to protest a deadly American bombing against a Hashed faction.

On January 3, 2020, top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and powerful Hashed chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis are killed in an American airstrike in Baghdad.

Iran responds with missile strikes on bases hosting American soldiers in Iraq.

The Iraqi parliament calls on the government to end the presence of foreign troops in Iraq, where 5,000 American troops are stationed.

On April 9, intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhemi, who has links in Washington and Tehran, is tasked with forming a government.

In early May he replaces Adel Abdel Mahdi, driven out after unprecedented October street protests which left some 100 dead.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hails the formation of a new government and extends Baghdad's sanctions waiver, allowing it to import Iranian gas.

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Washington DC (UPI) Aug 13, 2020
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