By Al-Fassel | 2024-01-25

The United States on Monday (January 22) sanctioned Iraqi airline Fly Baghdad and its CEO for providing assistance to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and its proxies in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

"For several years, Iraqi airline Fly Baghdad has supported the operations of the IRGC-QF and its proxies by delivering materiel and personnel throughout the region," the US Treasury Department said.

Fly Baghdad flights have delivered shipments of weapons to Syria's Damascus International Airport for transfer to IRGC-QF and Iran-aligned militias, it said.

These have included the Syrian Arab Republican Guard, Lebanese Hizbullah, Kataib Hizbullah and Liwa Abu al-Fadl al-Abbas, a Kataib Hizbullah affiliate.

"Fly Baghdad has delivered to these groups operating in Syria a range of weapons, including Iranian-made Fateh, Zulfiqar and al-Fajr series missiles, as well as AK-47s, RPG-7s, and other grenades and machine guns," it said.

The sanctions also target Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hizbullah, which has carried out a series of sharply escalating drone and missile attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria.

Kataib Hizbullah has been using Fly Baghdad to transport fighters, weapons and money to Syria and Lebanon to prop up the Syrian regime, the Treasury said.

Meanwhile, the militia's leadership has used Fly Baghdad to transport bags of US currency and US-made weapons obtained through battlefield collection from Iraq to Lebanon, it added.

Fly Baghdad was involved in the transfer of hundreds of Iraqi fighters, including those affiliated with Iran-aligned Asaib Ahl al-Haq, "in support of the Iranian proxies’ attacks," it said.

"Iran and its proxies have sought to abuse regional economies and use seemingly legitimate businesses as cover for funding and facilitating their attacks," Treasury official Brian Nelson said.

In November, the United States sanctioned six people affiliated with Kataib Hiabullah, and the leader of another Iraq-based group it said was involved in attacks against US troops in the region.

The latest sanctions target a senior Kataib Hizbullah member and drone specialist, alongside a company allegedly used to launder money and the individual managing it.

Claims against Fly Baghdad

Fly Baghdad is accused of having "materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financial, material, or technological support for, or goods or services to or in support of, the IRGC-QF," the Treasury said.

The US government identified two Iraq-registered aircraft owned by Fly Baghdad, with tail numbers YI-BAF and YI-BAN, as blocked property.

Fly Baghdad's CEO Basheer Abdulkadhim Alwan al-Shabbani was censured for his role in the company.

Fly Baghdad responded in a Monday statement, saying the decision was "based on misleading and unreal information that cannot stand up to the law."

"Dialogue and discussions continue between the CEO of Fly Baghdad and the Civil Aviation Authority, the transport ministry and the Prime Minister's office in order to resolve the issue," Fly Baghdad's director of aviation security Namir al-Qaissi told AFP on Tuesday.

The airline has two months to appeal the sanctions decision.

"We started the procedures for the appeal and all of this is with the full knowledge and support of the Iraqi government, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Transportation," al-Qaissi told The National.

"How can a passenger airline fly to countries' airports transporting weapons and fighters and ammunition without knowledge of the state? How can we bypass all these authorities so easily… This is completely illogical," he said.

Iran's destabilizing activities

In a separate statement on Monday, the US State Department said the IRGC-QF and Iran-aligned militias "pose a significant threat to the Middle East region."

"The United States remains committed to exposing and taking actions against individuals and groups that abuse their local economies and engage in illegal activities that support terrorist groups destabilizing the region," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.

By transporting fighters, weapons, drone parts and money to Iran's proxy militias in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, Fly Baghdad is enabling the IRGC as a state sponsor of terrorism.

Iranian-made drones have been used repeatedly in Iraq and Syria against the international coalition fighting the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS).

Since October, there have been more than 140 attacks on US and international coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.

Russia also is using Iranian-manufactured attack drones in its war against Ukraine. Ukraine and its allies have accused Iran of supplying Russia with hundreds of Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 "suicide drones."

Meanwhile, the Iran-backed Houthis are continuing to undermine regional stability and the global economy from Yemen by attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

Since November 19, the Houthis have launched attacks on at least 33 commercial vessels using a range of weaponry, the Pentagon said this week.