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BAGHDAD — Sunni insurgents who battled American soldiers in Iraq until their long-time enemy withdrew last year have turned their wrath on a new target: Shi’ite Iran.

The fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime on April 9, 2003, the dissolution of the Iraqi army and ruling Baath party and the rise to power of Shi’ites after 80 years of Sunni domination, buoyed Iraqi and Arabi jihadists.

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Four months after most U.S. troops left Iraq, the jihadists had to find a new reason to sustain their continued presence — enter Iran and the Shi’ite-led Iraqi regime.

“Armed groups always need to find an enemy in order to justify their existence,” said Hamid Fadel, a professor of political science at Baghdad University.

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In the run-up to the 9th anniversary of the fall of Saddam’s regime and the start of US occupation, militant groups issued a plethora of statements attacking Iran and Shiites.

The Islamic Group in Iraq, a coalition of 17 insurgent groups formed in 2010, said in a statement that “we will fight Iran with the same force that we fought their brothers, the Americans.”