RPGs and anti-tank missiles, as well as missile launchers designed by Brazil, have been sent to Russia from Iraq as the Moscow campaign stalled in the last month, according to the Guardian. An Iranian-made Bavar 373 missile system, similar to the Russian S-300, was also donated to Moscow by the Tehran authorities, who also returned an S-300, according to a source who helped organize the transport. The use of the underworld arms trade would mean a dramatic change in Russian strategy, as Moscow is forced to rely on Iran, its military ally in Syria, following new sanctions sparked by the invasion of Ukraine. Developments also have a huge impact on the direction and volume of trade in the international arms trade. Iraq has hosted US and Western troops since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, and the United States has trained and supplied various Iraqi army and special forces units to defend the Baghdad government against the insurgency. After two decades of war, the country is full of weapons. Much of it has passed into the hands of Iranian-backed Shiite militias who oppose the US presence in the country, but since 2016 have been formally integrated into the Iraqi armed forces as part of the fight against Islamic State. Known for their effectiveness in dismantling the Islamic State “caliphate” – and for their brutal treatment of Sunni civilians – these groups have become powerful agents in Iraq’s security establishment. RPG (rocket-propelled grenades) and anti-tank missiles in the possession of Hashd al-Shaabi, the Shiite militia’s most powerful umbrella, were transported to Iran via the Salamja border crossing on March 26, where they were received by the Iranian army and transported to Russia. commander of the militia branch that controls the passage. Ḥashd al-Shaabi also dismantled and dismantled two Astros II missile launchers designed by Brazil, known in Iraq as the licensed Sajil-60, to Iran on April 1, according to an inside source. “We do not care where the heavy weapons go [because we don’t need them at the moment]”, Said a source of Hashd al-Shaabi. “Everything that is against the United States makes us happy.” Three cargo ships capable of carrying such cargo – two Russian-flagged and one Iranian-flagged – crossed the Caspian Sea from Iran’s Bandar Anzali port in Astrakhan, a Russian city in the Volga Delta, within the stipulated time frame. “What the Russians need in Ukraine right now is missiles. “These require portability as they are fragile and explosive, but if you commit to doing so, it is possible,” said Yörük Işık, a Istanbul-based maritime affairs expert. “It’s also not the kind of activity that could be captured by satellite imagery, as they can be carried in large boxes and regular shipping containers.” Mohaned Hage Ali, a fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Center, said: “This kind of sophisticated weapon [rocket launcher systems] would make a big difference on the ground in Ukraine. Ḥashd al-Shaabi controls much of the border area with Iran, which would facilitate this transaction. “Other countries like China have to be very careful about supplying arms to Russia now, given the state of the new sanctions. And Iran, as part of this axis, wants to ensure that Russia does not lose ground in this conflict. “If the Putin regime is destabilized, it will have a huge impact on Iran, especially in Syria, where Damascus is dependent on Russian air support and Russia is coordinating to avoid a direct confrontation between them and Israel.” Extensive economic sanctions imposed on Moscow by Western nations after the February 24 invasion included bans on dual-use goods – items for political and military purposes – such as spare parts for vehicles and certain types of electronic and optical devices, as well as items with visible military uses. Russian manufacturers have reportedly been hit hard by the new restrictions, with Ukraine saying the country’s main armored car factory, as well as a tractor factory, have run out of components for building and repairing tanks. Revised Western estimates are that 29 of Russia’s original battalion regiments are now “ineffective in battle” from an invading force estimated at 125 battalions, or about 75% of Russia’s total army, in the “special army.” six weeks. mode”. Significant losses have yielded few gains: for now Moscow seems to have abandoned its initial attempt to occupy the capital, Kyiv, instead of withdrawing and repositioning its ground forces for a new offensive in the southeastern Donbas region. country. Air raids and artillery attacks are expected to continue in the cities of Kharkiv and Mykolaiv as well as in the besieged port of Mariupol. Last week, Ukrainian intelligence services accused Georgia of helping Russia obtain approved military equipment, another possible indication of the scale of the Kremlin’s new efforts to use international smuggling networks to aid its campaign in Ukraine. Georgia’s special services have been instructed by the country’s political leadership not to intervene in smuggling channels from “East Asia” designed to circumvent new Western sanctions, the Kiev intelligence service said in a statement. Georgian officials said the Ukrainian allegations were baseless. Relations between the two post-Soviet nations have deteriorated sharply since the conflict erupted over the pro-Russian government over Tbilisi’s refusal to impose economic sanctions on Moscow. U.S. officials also said Russia had asked China for military-grade weapons and assistance to support its operation in Ukraine. Russia’s ally Serbia received a Chinese anti-aircraft system in a covert operation over the weekend, the Associated Press reported, amid Western concerns about weapons accumulation in the Balkans at the same time as a war in Ukraine that could threaten fragile peace in the region.
