Iraq’s Interior Ministry announced Saturday that authorities had seized 47 drones and 46 projectiles at an abandoned site in western Anbar province, believed to belong to an armed faction with a significant military presence in the area. The security development in Anbar coincides with attacks carried out by armed factions against Saudi Arabia, prompting cautious optimism among observers that Iraqi authorities are serious about putting an end to such attacks. Acting on precise intelligence, Anbar Police Command units discovered an abandoned site in Area 35 that had previously been used as a tire repair shop, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. A search uncovered 47 drones and 46 projectiles prepared for use with the aircraft, along with control devices, batteries and other related equipment. Authorities secured the site and seized all the equipment, while investigators began technical and legal procedures to determine the origin of the materials and identify those connected to them. Security sources in Anbar believe the cache belonged to an Iran-aligned armed faction operating under the umbrella of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). The sources said security commanders were seeking to prevent Anbar from becoming a launchpad for missile attacks against neighboring countries. Anbar’s vast territory borders Jordan, Syria and Saudi Arabia, making the province strategically important to armed factions and Iran. The sources said it had served as a key route for transporting weapons to the former Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad and Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Alongside the Iraqi Army and police, several armed groups operate in the province. Kataib Hezbollah, which has three brigades within the PMF, is considered the most influential in western Anbar. Harakat al-Nujaba and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada are also active near the Iraqi-Syrian border in coordination with other security formations. Fighters affiliated with Asaib Ahl al-Haq and the Badr Organization are present elsewhere in the province, but relatively farther from the Syrian border, according to the sources. Anbar’s sprawling deserts, rugged valleys and abandoned military sites provide armed factions with locations to store weapons, drones and projectiles away from direct central government oversight. During the Iran-US war in March, local reports said PMF forces and armed factions left some positions and redeployed away from border areas. On Aug. 31, Qasim Muslih, commander of the PMF’s Anbar Operations Sector, denied that PMF headquarters in Anbar had been evacuated. He said its units continued to carry out their duties across their areas of responsibility with high levels of readiness under approved security plans.
