By Anas al-Bar | 2023-10-18

Iran-funded Iraqi militias are still actively engaged in smuggling operations that funnel weapons and various types of illicit drugs between Iran and Iraq via Iraq's eastern border in Diyala province, sources in the province said.

But the pace of smuggling activity has decreased somewhat, especially this year, they said, as a result of the intensification of security operations and campaigns to close the gaps in the border and impose control over crossings.

For years, especially following the 2017 territorial defeat in Iraq of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS), militias linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) such as Asaib Ahl al-Haq have wielded heavy influence in Diyala.

Local officials say this influence often complicates the security situation in the province and disrupts efforts to establish stability.

In a mid-September interview with Al-Iraqiya television channel, Diyala governor Muthanna al-Tamimi said that in the years following the ouster of ISIS, the province has suffered from the dominance of "influential groups."

These armed groups and some affiliated "warlords" had influence over the provincial council, he said, and this gave them "political cover" for their actions -- which have included smuggling, kidnapping and extortion operations.

The province was gripped by a wave of unrest in March following assassinations that tribal leaders and security officials said were directly linked to the smuggling operations and a struggle for money and influence.

'Black Valleys'

Diyala is a key smuggling corridor that the militias will not give up easily, as it is an essential means to enrich themselves via drug trafficking and a "focal link" in Iranian weapon transport operations, officials from the province told Al-Fassel.

The province shares a frontier with Iran, and directly neighbors a number of provinces in the center of the country, offering easy access to Baghdad.

In a July 21 interview with Al-Arabiya television, Minister of Interior Lt. Gen. Abdul Amir al-Shammari noted that drugs "flow from Iran and Syria through networks that are linked to each other."

Iran's proxies smuggle drugs through border roads, valleys and secret crossings, mostly located within the towns of Mandali, Balad Ruz, Qazaniya and Khanaqin, in north and east Diyala.

There are at least five types of illicit drugs smuggled across the border, primarily opium, hashish and crystal meth, which are subsequently transported from Diyala to the rest of the country to be sold.

Some are used within the province, to obtain local transporters and distributors who act as intermediaries with networks of agents and smugglers.

In the first half of this year, authorities arrested dozens of these small dealers and pushers in Diyala, seizing thousands of kilograms of illicit drugs.

They also shut down three valleys used by the smugglers in the border strip with Iran, collectively known as al-Wudian al-Sood (the Black Valleys).

'Biggest enemy and challenge'

These days drugs are "the biggest enemy and challenge" for the country, Iraqi MP Raad Al-Dahlaki, who represents Diyala in parliament, told Al-Fassel.

"It is crucial that every effort is made to control their flow and target the networks and groups responsible for trafficking them," he said.

He noted that armed groups have not stopped at drug smuggling but also are cultivating drugs and have turned the province into a production area.

He stressed the need to combat all smuggling activities "that harm the security of Diyala and the country in general and threaten the safety of citizens."

In addition to narcotics, Iranian groups are actively engaged in smuggling expired medicines and out-of-date food items and are trafficking in antiquities and oil products, which generate huge profits.

They also smuggle large quantities of dollars in an effort to prop up Iran's ailing economy with Iraqi money.

Controlling the borders

Security authorities are vigorously combating smuggling activities, however, and in the past weeks, they have broken up several networks smuggling hard currency into Iran using Diyala border crossings.

Over the years, Diyala also has been a major transit point for Iranian missiles and weapons, which the militias secretly transport to the country's western borders and onward to Iran's proxies in Syria and Lebanon.

Since 2019, missiles and weapons have been used to fuel violence in Diyala and other parts of Iraq, and to threaten diplomatic interests and missions.

To address the threat from illicit weapons and drugs, the Iraqi army has augmented security at border posts and ramped up patrols, to control the borders and monitor them with cameras and other means of surveillance.

Iraqi forces also carry out periodic campaigns to seize unlicensed weapons and target the places where they are stored.