From ISIS to KFC: how Iraq's elite CTS became doormen for US restaurants

Shafaq News/ The elite Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) that helped vanquish the Islamic State is back patrolling the streets of Baghdad — but this time they have a new mission: protecting U.S. restaurant franchises from vandals angry over the Gaza war.

Recently, assailants have been targeting American-style food chains as part of an "economic boycott" of brands they say help fund the Israeli military’s actions in Gaza.

The attacks, including assaults by masked men on branches of KFC and Lee’s Famous Recipe Chicken, began in late May after Iran-backed Shiite groups called on their followers to protest the businesses.

The groups, their statement said, "reject the use of Iraqi territory for investment projects" whose profits they claim are funneled to Israel and its armed forces. The United States is Israel's closest ally and chief supplier of weapons and aid, but that assistance comes largely from the government.

Iraq has responded to the unrest by deploying U.S.-trained counterterrorism units across Baghdad to guard against more violence. An effort, analysts say, both to reassure foreign investors and signal to powerful, pro-Iran groups that government forces are in control.

"We are special forces, not bodyguards," he told the Washington Post, speaking on the condition he is identified only by his first name, as he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Targeting American brands as a way to protest U.S. foreign policy is common in the Middle East and globally. When the war between Israel and Hamas broke out last fall, and a McDonald’s franchise in Israel said it would provide free meals to soldiers, several branches of the chain were vandalized in Egypt, Lebanon, and Turkiye.

Protesters in Iraq have also thrown sound bombs at a language institute and an office of Caterpillar Inc., the U.S. construction equipment manufacturer that supplies the Israeli military with armored bulldozers. Small protests were held outside the Baghdad offices of PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble, the Associated Press reported.

"We are a group of people from this nation that protested against American interests," said one participant, a member of the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he helped carry out attacks. "We will continue the boycott until all American interests are closed."

Shiite armed groups loyal to Iran hold significant political and military power in Iraq, and have long opposed the U.S. military presence here and in the region. The United States has about 2,500 U.S. troops and personnel in Iraq to advise and assist local security forces.

Earlier this year, the groups operating under the umbrella of the Islamic State in Iraq claimed responsibility for a drone attack that killed three U.S. service members in neighboring Jordan. After the United States retaliated, killing a senior Kataib Hezbollah commander in central Baghdad in February, the militias pulled back from targeting U.S. facilities.