On Saturday, The Washington Times published a report by Jeff Murdock, in which he said that President Biden is expected to use his meeting on Monday with the Iraqi prime minister to pressure him to take a stronger role in curbing Iranian-backed drone attacks against US forces in Iraq in Syria. .

According to the report, analysts say Mr. Biden may not have enough leverage to overcome Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's fears of Iranian retaliation.

The report quoted Robert Rabil, a professor at Florida Atlantic University who has written books on the region, as saying that "Iraq is not going to take a hard line against things that don't matter to it," and that “the prime minister is pro-U.S., but he is also a nationalist and pro-Iraq. He knows he can’t make an enemy out of Iran.”

Since President Biden took office in January, at least eight drone attacks and 17 missile attacks have targeted US forces in Iraq and Syria. An attack earlier this month on an Iraqi air base hosting US forces wounded two US soldiers.

The United States has blamed the attacks on Iranian-backed militias operating inside Iraq and Syria. The militias make up a large part of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, a state-sponsored umbrella organization made up of about 40 mostly Shiite paramilitary groups.

In response to the attacks, Biden twice ordered airstrikes on militias operating inside Syria, including one near the Iraqi border.