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GERTZ:

Iran still arming Mahdi Army in Iraq

A report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies said Iran continued to supply weapons to Shi'ite militias in Iraq. The report, authored by former Defense Department official Anthony Cordesman, said Iran has focused its support on the Mahdi Army, led by Shi'ite cleric Muqtada Sadr.

"Iranian involvement remains a key issue, and one with many uncertainties," the report, titled "Sadr and the Mahdi Army: Evolution, Capabilities and a New Direction," said. "Iran seems to be trying to find a careful balance between retaining influence over Sadr and the JAM [Mahdi Army] and working with the Iraqi government and other Shi'ite parties. Iran seems to have played an important role in both the Sadr ceasefire in Basra and in Sadr City, but some of the most lethal technology used in IEDs [improvised explosve devices], components for shaped charges, came from Iran."

The report, dated Aug. 4, said Iran has been supplying rockets, mortars, explosively-formed projectiles and other weapons to Shi'ite militias. CSIS said the Mahdi Army, believed to have up to 40,000 fighters, contains Iranian advisers in an effort to model the militia after the Lebanese-based Hizbullah.

"The JAM certainly has some capability for paramilitary combat and urban warfare, but it is scarcely a well-organized, well disciplined, or capable force," the report said. "Muqtada Sadr and the Mahdi Army appear to have suffered significant losses in the course of 2008, but they remain the biggest Shi'ite threat to both the Iraqi government and the U.S.-led coalition."

Cordesman raised the prospect that Sadr has used so-called splinters of the Mahdi Army to attack the U.S.-led coalition. The report cited the Special Groups, whose attacks appear coordinated with the Mahdi Army and Iran.

"In spite of their limits and lack of practical combat experience the Mahdi Army and the Special Groups have been effective in using asymmetrical warfare in a number of past battles, and they remain the largest and most dangerous Shi'a militia in Iraq," the report said. "Their ability to adapt to military tactics and technological advancements has put further stress on the U.S. military both financially and mentally, and their ability to develop and/or employ devastating weapon systems has been a serious problem."

The Mahdi Army was said to be equipped with AK-47 Kalashnikov assault rifles, sniper rifles, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades, bombs, mortars and Katyusha rockets. The report said Mahdi has increased the size of its bombs to overcome the U.S.-origin Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle.

The U.S. military has already overseen development of a new prototype, MRAP-2. At the same time, Shi'ite militias have also decreased their use of EFPs by 70 percent since May 2008.

The Mahdi Army has also been using the Improvised Rocket Assisted Mortar, also known as flying IEDs. IRAMs have been described as propane tanks packed with explosives, which use Iranian-origin 107 mm rocket charges. They have been launched from small trucks and fired in multiples of four to nine rockets by using cell phone signals or timers.

"There is a growing concern of weapon technology being transferred from Iran to Shi'a militias," the report said. "The use of these weapons has given the JAM a political impact much larger than its military impact."