The latest

Over the past three months, members of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces and Iraqi security officers received messages and calls containing precise information about their locations and private lives. An Iraqi security source who requested anonymity described some messages as Israeli and said they disclosed recipients’ whereabouts while seeking their cooperation. The contacts prompted senior security investigations into whether classified Iraqi databases had been breached or information had leaked through compromised Iranian networks, expanding concern over access to the movements of figures linked to the PMF and Iran.

Details

• Messages and recruitment: The messages reached PMF members, including senior figures, and included their locations at the time they were sent, alongside requests to cooperate. Their precision indicated that the senders possessed information extending beyond names and standard contact details.
• International calls: Security officers also received calls from numbers linked to Canada, India and New Zealand. Callers spoke broken Arabic and invoked the Mossad’s name. Some calls included highly specific personal information, leading the Iraqi security source to suspect that the leak may extend beyond official databases.
• Real-time tracking: A senior figure in the Coordination Framework said a family member received anonymous messages identifying the politician’s location at the moment they were sent. The incident intensified fears that the operation involved live location tracking rather than relying solely on information gathered earlier.
• Investigative paths: Iraq’s senior security authorities are examining possible breaches of classified databases belonging to the PMF and security agencies. The source raised the possibility that compromised Iranian entities supplied information to Mossad, while investigators are also considering whether the breach originated from within the PMF itself.
• Jadriya strike: An airstrike hit a house in Baghdad’s Jadriya district on March 17, 2026. Among those targeted were Iranian officials responsible for economic affairs and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps portfolio in Iraq.
• Operational changes: The developments pushed armed factions to dismantle centralized operating structures and shift toward smaller cells. They also tightened rules governing members’ movements and access to shared information.

Background

The investigation unfolds amid wider intelligence tensions. US officials said the Pentagon raised its assessment of threats linked to Israeli intelligence to “critical,” its highest internal classification. Israel and the White House rejected that account. In Iraq, the inquiry is focused on the sensitive Jadriya site and the data used to identify individuals’ locations and private details.

What’s next

The next indicator will be the security investigation’s determination of whether the information came from Iraqi institutions, within the PMF or Iran-linked entities. Publication of its findings will shape containment measures and define the assessed scope of the breach.