Members of the Iraqi Counter-terrorism Service (ICTS) are deployed in the streets of the capital Baghdad on March 27, 2021, days after a military parade by an armed faction loyal to Iran. - On March 25, masked gunmen in a convoy of pick-ups drove through the Iraqi capital staging a show of force against Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi who has proposed a new dialogue with Washington.
Militants of the Rabaa Allah group brandished mocking portraits of the prime minister, who is seen as pro-American, and other government officials showing their faces trampled underfoot.
Rabaa Allah is the newest and most powerful of a myriad of pro-Iran groups in Iraq.
It is seen by experts as a cover for Kataeb Hezbollah which has been integrated into the Iraqi security forces, giving it leeway to oppose the official line. (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP via Getty Images)
