Iraqi armed factions that are aligned with Iran have expanded their daily attacks on military sites and what they say are US interests in Iraq and the region to include Syrian territory. This marks the first such expansion since these groups became involved in the US-Israeli war on Iran .
On Monday evening, 23 March, the attack targeted the "Kharab al-Jir" base in Syria's Hasakah, which Damascus says US forces withdrew from in February 2026.
The attack was launched from the Iraqi border town of Rabia, near Hasakah, using Grad rockets mounted on a locally made launcher placed on a truck that was later found burnt following the launch.
Rabia falls under the influence of factions within the Popular Mobilisation Forces, most notably Kataib Hezbollah and Sayyid al-Shuhada. Rocket attacks The Syrian army operations authority said, "One of its military bases near the town of al-Yarubiyah in the Hasakah countryside was hit by shelling carried out using five rockets. The rockets were launched from the vicinity of the village of Tal al-Hawa, located 20 kilometres inside Iraqi territory."
In a statement on Monday, 23 March, it said, "Communication and coordination had taken place with the Iraqi side regarding the incident."
"The Iraqi army confirmed it had begun combing operations to search for those responsible," the statement noted.
The authority added that the Syrian army is on "full alert and will carry out its responsibilities to defend Syrian territory and respond to any attack."
Syrian Deputy Defence Minister Samir Ali Oso condemned the shelling of the "Kharab al-Jir" base in the city of Rmeilan.
He said on X that the attack caused "material damage but no casualties among the armed forces".
He called on Iraq "to take firm and decisive measures to prevent a recurrence of such violations".
Local Iraqi factions linked to Iran are believed to be behind the attack.
This is not the first time Iraqi militias have targeted the base.
They attacked it in mid-2024 with drones, injuring several US troops who were stationed there at the time.
Yesterday, 24 March, the Iraqi group Saraya Awliya al-Dam, which first emerged in 2020 following the killing of Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, claimed 136 attacks carried out over the past 22 days in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and Syria. It said the attacks on Syria included rockets and drones. However, it did not directly claim the strike on "Kharab al-Jir".
According to an official in the Nineveh Operations Command of the Iraqi army, who spoke by phone to The New Arab , several army and police officers have been detained pending investigation.
They face charges of negligence and failure to prevent the attack after the truck carrying the rockets passed through several Iraqi army checkpoints.
He said the Iraqi army faces a major challenge in stopping such attacks, as they are carried out using vehicles, trucks, and official identification belonging to the Popular Mobilisation Forces, which is a legally recognised state institution. No Iraqi group has formally claimed the attack. Armed groups usually publish details of their operations a day after carrying them out.
However, the same official told The New Arab that military intelligence is questioning PMF members who were arrested on suspicion of involvement.
He added that accusations are circulating about a member of the Iraqi parliament from Nineveh, allegedly facilitating the attack. He said the MP has extensive ties with several factions in the Rabia area, which is inhabited by the Arab Shammar tribe.
Regarding the official Iraqi position, Nineveh provincial council member Ahmed al-Hadidi told The New Arab that Iraq has begun investigating the attack.
He said the aim is not only to identify those involved but also to hold accountable those who were negligent, including Iraqi border guard forces deployed in the area.
"Expanding attacks beyond Iraq would have political and economic repercussions. It could delay the reopening of the Rabia border crossing between the two countries, which is seen as an economic lifeline linking Iraq and Syria," he said.
The "Kharab al-Jir" base lies between the towns of al-Yarubiyah and Rmeilan, about 14 kilometres from the Syrian-Iraqi border and around 29 kilometres from the Turkish border.
The base covers approximately 1.6 square kilometres and includes a military airstrip used by the international coalition. It also served as a key transit point for military and logistical reinforcements and a joint training centre with the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Before US-led coalition forces withdrew from it in late February towards the Iraq-Kurdistan region, the base in the Rmeilan oil area in the Hasakah countryside was one of the most important coalition bases.
It was handed over to the Syrian army along with other bases, including al-Tanf in the Syrian-Jordanian-Iraqi border triangle.
On 14 March, the Syrian state news agency SANA reported, citing the Defence Ministry media office, that Syrian army units had taken control of the Rmeilan base after coalition forces withdrew.
The army had previously taken over the al-Shaddadi military base in February 2026 following coordination with the US side.
This came after the earlier receipt of control of the al-Tanf base. Cell arrested in Deir ez-Zor In this context, Wael Alwan, a researcher at Jusoor for Studies, said the "Kharab al-Jir" base is completely devoid of any US military presence.
He told The New Arab that the shelling "came in response to Syrian security forces arresting a PMF cell in the Deir ez-Zor province on Monday".
A Syrian security source told local media, cited by Syrian TV and Radio Damascus , that internal security in Deir ez-Zor, in cooperation with relevant authorities, dismantled a six-member cell linked to the Iraqi PMF.
The cell was active in transferring information and smuggling weapons in the area.
He said investigations are ongoing with the detainees to uncover further details about their connections and assigned tasks.
Military and security expert Rashid Hourani told The New Arab he linked the attack on "Kharab al-Jir" to the arrest of a PMF-affiliated cell in Deir ez-Zor.
In his view, the primary aim of the attack was to "undermine Syrian state sovereignty and demonstrate its weakness and fragility".
"Iran and its militias in Iraq were behind the attack and sought to provoke the Syrian side to reintroduce chaos along both sides of the Syrian-Iraqi border," he added.
He noted that "such instability serves to activate its networks and cells to transfer weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon."
He added that the area where the base is located is security fragile, and "Iranian militias exploit such vulnerable areas, as happened on Monday in the Hasakah countryside."
By contrast, Ali al-Feeli, an expert on Iraqi armed groups close to the PMF, told The New Arab that targeting the "Kharab al-Jir" base in Syria is "inseparable from attacks on US military sites claimed by resistance factions outside Iraq in recent weeks".
He said assertions that US forces had left the base and that it was handed to the Syrian army are unconvincing to the factions.
He suggested the expansion may be part of a broader response to escalating US strikes on faction positions in Iraq.
He indicated that factions "may expand their attacks and targets if US attacks continue at the same pace".
"This is especially the case following the killing of PMF Anbar commander Saad Dawi and 14 others from faction leadership and members in an air strike on Anbar early Tuesday, 24 March," he said. Article translated from Arabic by Afrah Almatwari. To read the original, click here .