The fighter viewed the strength of the militia — which includes groups that once fought U.S. troops with assistance from Iran — as a decisive blow in the power struggle between Washington and Tehran. Three years after the end of the Iraq War, he said, U.S. influence in the country is fading as Iran takes on a more assertive role on the battlefield. “This will destroy the American project in Iraq,” he said. “The popular mobilization’s numbers as a skilled, armed guerrilla force — this will be a major problem for U.S. plans.”

The militia reportedly numbers around 100,000 fighters across the country. They rose up following a call from Iraq’s top Shiite religious authority in June as ISIS militants — who preach an extremist version of Sunni Islam — took the northern city of Mosul and threatened Baghdad. The Iraqi military had retreated in Mosul, leaving its U.S. weapons behind, and the Obama administration held off on launching airstrikes until August, when ISIS advanced into the Kurdish region in northern Iraq. “The Iraqi people thought America would be their number one supporter in defeating ISIS. But ISIS came close to the border of Baghdad, and the U.S. did nothing to intervene,” the fighter said. “Iran and [its allies] are sacrificing blood and everything else. Who do you think the Iraqi people will choose?”
The fighter said that it would be not the U.S. strikes but the assistance of Iran and Hezbollah on the ground — and the strength of the militia — that brought ISIS to defeat. “Instead of participating, you see headlines that the U.S. conducted three airstrikes, that the coalition conducted five airstrikes. Such things will not make anyone pregnant,” he said. “At the conclusion to a war, those who control the ground have the right to impose their decisions. The military reinforces the politics.”