How Iraqi militias got hold of American tanks

Several years ago, the United States debated supplying Syrian rebels with high-tech armaments such as anti-tank and surface-to-air missiles. Critics contended that the weapons might fall into the hands of US-designated "terrorist organisations".

But it is in Iraq, that the fear has become real: the US has armed American-killing Iranian proxies and terrorist groups with its best tank, the M1 Abrams.

The Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an umbrella organisation of Iranian-backed Shia militias fighting the Islamic State group, have acquired M1 Abrams tanks given to the Iraqi army. Two PMF militias - the Badr Organisation and Kataib Hezbollah - have posted pictures and videos of their fighters alongside M1 Abrams tanks draped with their banners and flags.

The tanks once belonged to the 9th Armored Division, the only Iraqi Army unit that operates the M1 Abrams. It remains ambiguous whether the militiamen in the videos are controlling the tanks themselves or just posing with them under the supervision of tank crews from the 9th.

"In the videos, the passengers in the tanks are wearing the 9th's uniforms,"Iraqi Army spokesman Colonel Muhammad Baidani told The New Arab. "Taking pictures and placing flags on the tank alone is not proof of ownership."

Baidani added that the Iraqi Armed Forces and the PMF conduct combined operations "in most battles", calling allegations that the 9th had loaned the M1 Abrams to the PMF "untrue".

But sources in the PMF told The New Arab a different story, explaining that the militias obtained the M1 Abrams in two ways: "Sometimes, the PMF asks for American tanks from the Iraqi Army, if Russian-made tanks are unavailable," said Hussam al-Mayahi, a Badr engineer specialising in military technology and remote weapons stations.

"The PMF also seized some after the fall of Mosul and the second Battle of Tikrit, taking them from IS."

During IS' campaign across the east and north of Iraq, the militants managed to seize numerous M1 Abrams tanks, including at least ten during the Battle of Ramadi in 2015.

Jafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for Kataib Hezbollah, confirmed this story: "We captured the American tanks and other military vehicles from IS, who, in turn, [had] seized them from what was left by the Iraqi army. Now, they are under our control, and we are seeking more."

He claimed that Kataib Hezbollah and other Shia militias now held all IS' M1 Abrams tanks.

Other tanks appear to come straight from the 9th: "Tanks are provided to us according to the circumstances of the battles and offensives, before being returned to the Defense Ministry," Karim al-Nuri, a ranking Badr commander, told The New Arab.

Al-Nuri says he has never seen the PMF directly use an American tank but, when shown the pictures and videos that Badr had posted, replied: "It's important to take any tanks - whether Russian or American."

If the US delivered M1 Abrams tanks to Iraq's Defense Ministry despite knowing that they could be given to the PMF, the Pentagon might have violated the Leahy Law - which prohibits the US Defense and State Departments from providing military aid to security forces guilty of abusing human rights.

Human rights defenders accuse the PMF, including Badr and Kataib Hezbollah, of ethnic cleansing, summary executions, and other war crimes.

Iraq remains on the State Department's list of countries with the most child soldiers, because of these militias who continue to recruit minors.

Kataib Hezbollah presents a wider dilemma. In 2009, the State Department designated it a "terrorist organisation" for killing American soldiers, and the US Treasury Department labelled its founder, the Iraqi warlord Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a "specially designated global terrorist".

Al-Muhandis works as an operative for the Quds Force, the subunit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responsible for extraterritorial operations on Iran's behalf.

"We have heard these reports and we are looking into them," said a spokesman for the US-led anti-IS coalition, who emphasized in an email: "Department of Defense policies on the provision of military assistance to foreign military forces require that Iraqi Security Forces receiving equipment or training are strictly vetted in accordance with the Leahy Act as well as for associations with terrorist organizations and/or the government of Iran."

These policies appear to have failed.

A State Department official admitted "not all US-provided defense articles are under the control of the intended recipient ministry/unit. We are concerned that a small number of M1A1 tanks may be in the possession of forces other than the Ministry of Defense and Iraqi Army.

"The United States has not provided these or other defense articles to the PMF.

"Nevertheless, we understand that some equipment has come into the possession of the PMF, which are part of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) by law, and have been used in the fight against ISIS. We will continue to press the Government of Iraq to act as quickly as possible to return these defense articles to their intended recipient ministry/units."

Despite acknowledging that the PMF had seized many M1 Abrams tanks in one way or another, the State Department declined to estimate just how many. It could not confirm whether it had lost track of how many tanks may be under the militias' control.

The ranking Democrats and Republicans on the US House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, which oversee the sale of M1 Abrams tanks and other weapons to Iraq, failed to reply to repeated requests for comment by email and phone for this article.

In December 2014, several months after the Iraqi army had lost many of its M1 Abrams tanks to IS, the State Department agreed to sell it another 175, once the Defense Department notified the US Congress - which has spent much more time deliberating over tanks sold to Saudi Arabia than to Iraq.

For now at least, Iraq appears to have a continuous supply of the M1 Abrams for years to come. Al-Husseini, the Kataib Hezbollah spokesman, may just get his wish.