‘Loyalty campaign’: Iraqi armed groups in Iran as US talks of ground war

Fighters from a major Iraqi pro-Iran armed group have entered the country, carrying aid — and a signal of support.Tehran, Iran – Iranian authorities have welcomed a number of paramilitary Iraqi forces as part of a “humanitarian convoy” while war with the United States and Israel threatens to enter a new phase involving potential ground assaults.Footage circulated online by Iranian and Iraqi media outlets on Saturday and Sunday showed a convoy belonging to Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) of Iran-aligned fighters, entering Iran.The convoy consisted of dozens of pickup trucks carrying packaged cargo, as well as men in military attire, some of whom also wore clerical turbans. The group waved the Iraqi flag, as well as the flag of Lebanon’s Hezbollah, another member of the Tehran-led “axis of resistance” of armed forces.The Fars news agency, affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), whose Quds Force leads the axis, described the movement as “the first humanitarian aid convoy from the people of Iraq”.Al-Alam, the Arabic-language news channel run by Iranian state television, described the effort as a “loyalty campaign” and said it carried 70 tonnes of food and medical supplies. The Iranian government has repeatedly emphasised since the start of the war a month ago that the country does not face a shortage of essential goods.The convoy started its journey from Basra in southern Iraq and crossed the border into Khuzestan in western Iran. It was spotted entering from Shalamcheh, a historic town on the border where invading Iraqi forces launched a deadly chemical gas attack during the eight-year war with Iran in the 1980s.