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DAMASCUS, SYRIA (10:05 P.M.) – New steps have been taken by the US to impose sanctions on what it describes as ‘Iranian proxy militias’ that operate in Iraq.

A bill presented before the US congress by Republican senator Ted Poe on Thursday argued that Harakat Hezbollah Al-Nujaba and Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq (AAH), two predominately Shiite militias that have been instrumental in driving back ISIS on battlefields in both Iraq and Syria, were nothing but Iranian proxies that had received funds from Tehran and undergone training by Hezbollah (Lebanese paramilitary).

The bill accused AAH, an Iraqi paramilitary group founded in 2006, of conducting multiple attacks and kidnappings against the US Army up until it withdrew from the country in December 2011. The leader of AAH, Qais Khazali, maintains close ties with Tehran according to Washington.

Meanwhile, Harakat Hezbollah Al-Nujaba stands accused of conducting a series of mortar and rocket attacks against US personnel in Baghdad City back in 2008. The bill added that the group more recently had played a key role in linking Iran to Lebanon in order funnel weaponry to their Lebanese comrades.

Somewhat problematically for the bill, both groups are part the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) which due to a bill passed by the Iraqi Government in November 2016 has become a legitimate part of Iraq’s security forces.

Effectively, the US is on the brink of imposing sanctions on two branches of the Iraqi Armed Forces despite supplying the latter generously with armored vehicles and weapons to fight ISIS.

If the bill is passed the US president Donald Trump will have 90 days to impose sanctions.