Reuters: Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Set Up Secret Drone Cells in Iraq

Reuters reported that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards secretly established drone cells in Iraq to carry out attacks against Gulf states that host U.S. military bases. According to the report, three to four covert cells were set up inside Iraq, each with about 10 Iraqi Shiite fighters.

Those cells were responsible for launching at least seven drone attacks aimed at targets in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The strikes were carried out from a desert area near the cities of Basra and al-Samawah in southeastern Iraq.

The reported attacks took place between April 20 and May 17. Reuters also said some of the recruits came from the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” an umbrella structure for several Iran-backed Shiite militias that operate as part of Tehran’s “axis of resistance.”

However, the specific cells operated independently and outside the usual command-and-control structure of that umbrella group in Iraq. Their operational instructions were given directly by Revolutionary Guards personnel.