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US takes down website belonging to Iran-backed militias in Iraq

US takes down website belonging to Iran-backed militias in Iraq
posted onDecember 2, 2020
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 The US Justice Department has seized the website of Iraq’s paramilitary Badr Organization, Al Arabiya English reported on Wednesday.

 “There’s been much more pressure on the groups as a whole,” Phillip Smyth, an analyst at the Washington Institute told the agency. 

Badr Organization, a political party and paramilitary group in Iraq, is one of Iran’s oldest proxies in the country. 

Articles on the site were reportedly criticizing Donald Trump’s administration and US foreign policy. 

Some “anti-Israel narratives were also observed,” a Justice Department affidavit published online read. 

“At least three articles appeared to have pro-Iran sentiments regarding oil and sanctions, specifically, opposition to US sanctions on Iran,” read the affidavit. 

Iran’s proxies in Iraq have targeted anti-Tehran protesters, US forces and Western forces in the country. These groups have also been blamed for a series of assassinations, including that of Iraqi researcher Hisham al-Hashemi.