BAGHDAD (Dispatches) – A roadside bomb left behind by Daesh killed two Iraqi soldiers and wounded two others in the northern Rawa desert south of Nineveh province on Sunday, the Defense Ministry said.
It marked the latest sign of a resurgence in tafiri activity coinciding with mounting U.S. pressure on Baghdad to disarm the very forces that once saved the country from total collapse.
The attack marked the second security breach in a week, after security forces killed two Daesh suicide bombers in Tuz Khurmatu, north of Kirkuk. While Iraq declared victory over Daesh in 2017, remnants of the terrorist group continue to carry out attacks across deserts and remote areas.
The timing is significant. The bombing came just four days after Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi formally announced the end of the U.S. occupation in Iraq, declaring a “new phase” of full Iraqi sovereignty and security self-reliance. 
But U.S. pressure did not end with the withdrawal. Washington has shifted to a financial and political campaign targeting factions within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
The PMF’s origins trace directly to the moment Iraq faced existential threat. In June 2014, as Daesh overran Mosul and pushed toward Baghdad, the Iraqi army collapsed. 
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa calling Iraqis to defend the nation, and millions answered. Iran was the only country that provided immediate weapons, military advisers, and war planning when Baghdad’s pleas to Washington went unheeded. 
The PMF was born from that mobilization, and it was these forces that halted Daesh at the gates of Baghdad, secured Samarra, and eventually rolled back the caliphate across Diyala, Salah al-Din, and Anbar.
Now, those same forces face disarmament demands. Prime Minister al-Zaidi initially set a September 30 deadline, then extended it to June 30, 2027, amid ongoing negotiations. 
Kataib Hezbollah’s military spokesman declared the group is “not bound by any timetable,” while resistance factions have escalated demands, linking any weapons discussion to ending U.S. influence over Iraq’s oil revenues held at the Federal Reserve.
Analysts describe the pressure as Washington’s continued meddling in Iraq’s internal affairs after being forced to end its occupation under public pressure. 
Ronen Zeidel of the Moshe Dayan Center noted that resistance forces are now “determined to retain power,” pointing to continued American military flights and armed Kurdish groups.