Has the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran resumed—but in Iraq?
“Resumed” is not exactly right. The war on Iran hasn’t ended. A quasi-ceasefire has been marked by intermittent low-level attacks as the U.S. embargo on Iranian ships continues and the Trump administration threatens a return to major assaults.
Meanwhile, though, the Iraq government reportedly suspects that the Israelis have targeted stockpiles “Held by Iraqi Factions” of made-in-China air defense systems that had been brought in from Iran (Asharq Al-Awsat, October 24, 2026).
Sources said Baghdad suspects that two sites storing Chinese-made man-portable air defense systems were targeted in airstrikes last week, as officials examine an intelligence assessment suggesting that the US-Israeli war against Iran may have already resumed, even before the official start of hostilities, but on Iraqi soil….
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that the two sites were suspected of having come under attack, destroying a large shipment of Chinese-made air defense systems that had recently arrived from Iran and been transferred to Iraqi factions loyal to Tehran….
According to the sources, several armed factions have been actively transferring advanced air defense systems and drones from Iran to Iraq over the past few weeks and storing them at facilities under their control.
Unconfirmed reports had suggested that secret shipments from China to Iran included heat-seeking man-portable air defense systems designed to counter low-flying aircraft, including helicopters and drones.
On July 28, China’s Foreign Ministry categorically denied reports of deals involving the sale or shipment of Chinese-made missiles and air defense systems to Iran….
Conflicting reports have described sorties by Israeli fighter jets, supported by aerial refueling aircraft, through Iraqi airspace near the Iranian border. However, this information has not been independently confirmed.
Beijing’s denials don’t mean anything. But many of the report’s plausible conclusions are presented as tentative and unconfirmed.
What seems clear is that whether or not the air defense systems originated in China, Iraqi factions have been bringing them into Iraq from Iran. Investigators are supposedly unsure, though, whether there were air strikes (though no alternative explanation of how the two sites blew up is mentioned); and if there were air strikes, whether it was the Israelis who conducted them.
On the other hand, various officials and party leaders have “believed for weeks that a renewed war between Washington and Tehran would begin with the complete destruction of the military capabilities of Iraqi armed factions.”
Before and during the 2026 war, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have claimed credit for many drone and rocket attacks on U.S. installations in Iraq and elsewhere in the Mideast region.
