Iran is attacking Kurdish positions in north-eastern Iraq and Turkey is bombing PKK strongholds. Both states claim that their security is at risk, so they are compelled to act. Turkey even maintains bases on Iraqi territory. The Iraqi government’s criticism that in doing so it is violating Iraq’s territorial sovereignty lets it roll off.
Iraq, freed from Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship almost two decades ago, is still unable to protect its borders. Its neighbors are also influential internally, above all Iran. Tehran uses powerful pro-Iranian militias, the largest of which is Hashd al-Shaabi, the popular mobilization militia. With their criminal activities, the militias have long been the country’s most important employers.
