• This report reveals a coordinated digital campaign led by Iraqi accounts associated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), or operating within its propaganda and political sphere, to promote pro-Iran discourse concurrently with the American and Israeli raids on targets inside Tehran.
• The analysis reveals how social media platforms quickly became an arena for political mobilization, utilizing emotionally and religiously charged hashtags like: #يا_لثارات_الحسين (Avenging Hussein), #يا_لثارات_الإمام (Avenging the Imam), and #القائد_الأمة_شهيداً (The Leader of the Nation is a Martyr). This reflects an effort to connect the military escalation with a cross-border, sectarian narrative of revenge to mobilize an audience.
• The report concludes that the campaign, despite the relatively limited number of posts, achieved widespread reach and high engagement disproportionate to the volume of published content, which reinforces the hypothesis of coordination and the existence of dedicated networks for digital amplification.
• The investigation also uncovers striking indicators that suggest the use of inauthentic accounts or artificial amplification to expand the hashtags' reach and shareability. These include a high frequency of posts from recently created Iraqi accounts, similar behavioral patterns among the promoting accounts, and the notable, seemingly out-of-place presence of a Sinhalese-language hashtag within an otherwise pro-Iran Arabic context.
• Furthermore, the investigation links this campaign to a broader media and propaganda structure that includes accounts and pages promoting the PMF, along with the contribution of media platforms affiliated with the Iranian axis, foremost among them Al Mayadeen channel, in pushing some hashtags to the forefront.
• Finally, the report does not merely document a transient digital interaction with a regional event, but rather reveals the organized use of cyberspace in producing pro-Iran mobilization discourse within Iraq, leveraging war, religious symbols, and politically supportive networks to manufacture sympathetic public opinion and expand the impact of propaganda messages at a highly sensitive regional moment.

The Launch of the Campaign

Coinciding with American and Israeli airstrikes on several targets inside Iran, including headquarters belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the headquarters of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, and the headquarters of Iranian Supreme Leader "Ali Khamenei," the hashtag #السيد_علي_خامنئي (Leader Ali Khamenei) appeared on social media platforms, especially Facebook, X, and TikTok, which included posts discussing the targeting of the Iranian Supreme Leader.

Some of these posts showed support for Khamenei, while others denied his assassination. However, after the IRGC announced the assassination of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the hashtag #القائد_الأمة_شهيداً (The Leader of the Nation is a Martyr) appeared, and the Lebanese Al Mayadeen channel, which supports Hezbollah, was the first to use it.

Another hashtag appeared on March 1st, mourning the leader and calling for revenge for him: “Avenging Hussein”. The first to publish it was an Iraqi account named @SaifALSHamr, a relatively new account created in 2022. An examination of its content showed it to be pro-Iranian.

Then, an account named "Muqtada al-Maqdisi" on Facebook re-published the hashtag “Avenging the Imam” and it is an Iraqi account that described itself as the founder of the "Sons of al Muhandis" group.

The Sons of al-Muhandis group is a student group associated with the PMF in Iraq, specifically with its Relations and Social Services Directorate. The group's name is a tribute to Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy head of the PMF who was designated a terrorist by the United States and killed in January 2020 in a US airstrike near Baghdad International Airport.

Since March 1, a digital campaign promoting support for Iran in Iraq began, led by Iraqi accounts linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces or pro-Iranian.

General Indicators

The number of posts associated with pro-Iran hashtags, such as: "#الخامنئي_في_درب_الحسين" (Khamenei is on the path of Hussein), "#يا_لثارات_الإمام" (Avenging the Imam), "#القائد_الأمة_شهيداً" (The Leader of the Nation is a Martyr), "#يا_لثارات_الحسين" (Avenging Hussein), and "#لبيك_يا_خامنه_ای‌" (Yes, Khamenei), reached its first peak on March 1, after the announcement of the assassination of the Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.

On March 2, despite the decrease in the number of posts, the reach achieved by those posts rose to its highest level. Then, with the continuation of the American-Israeli bombing and the Iranian response, the number of posts reached its greatest peak on March 8.

Despite the small number of posts, only 520, the hashtags achieved high dissemination figures, including an estimated total reach of approximately 23 million and nearly 990 thousand interactions.

Most of the posts were written in Arabic, with a limited presence of the Persian language, and a notable appearance of the Sinhala language spoken by residents of Sri Lanka, which indicates the participation of inauthentic accounts in interacting with the hashtags.

The largest percentage of the content was published on X, with a percentage close to 65%, followed by YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.

Other hashtags related to the course of the war also appeared, such as: #إيران (Iran) and #حزب_الله (Hezbollah) and #لبنان (Lebanon), and the operation #الوعد_الصادق_4 (True Promise 4); however, what was notable was the appearance of a hashtag in the Sinhala language which ranked third in the list of most widely used hashtags.

Active Accounts and the Mystery of the Sinhalese Language

Upon investigating the appearance of a hashtag in the Sri Lankan Sinhalese language, among the Arabic hashtags supporting Iran, it was found that all posts containing the Sinhalese hashtag were published by an account named "313 زين الشمري🇮🇶 @50z40," (Zain Al Shemari @31350) which appeared at the top of the list of accounts that published the most posts containing the hashtags.

The account "Zain Al Shemari" published 222 posts, all of which included a hashtag in the Sinhalese language, and also included the hashtag #يا_لثارات_الإمام  (Avenging the Imam) and other hashtags.

Zain Al Shemari is a recent Iraqi account, created in 2024. However, an examination of the account showed that it is not a personal account, as all of its tweets are dedicated to promoting the PMF and Lebanon's Hezbollah. The account posts a large number of tweets, all of which include videos, images, and hashtags supporting Iran. Furthermore, the account's username, composed of random letters and numbers, points to its purpose being solely for political promotion and the amplification of hashtags.

Following the appearance of the "Al Mayadeen Program" account (affiliated with the Al Mayadeen platform), the account "@ha2761160," under the name "Hamza Khair El Din," was observed. This is a recently created Iraqi account from 2025 that has posted only nine times. Analysis of this account, similar to the previous one, revealed that it posts numerous tweets in rapid succession and that its username is composed of random letters and numbers.

The "waaay.313" Instagram account also shared 8 posts. This is a recent commercial page, created in 2025, dedicated to promoting Iran and the Shiite sect in Arabic. Although the page's data does not show which country it operates from, it publishes quotes from Sheikh Mahmoud Al ‘Aali, a Shiite cleric of Bahraini nationality.

Following the same pattern, another Iraqi account appeared, called "Narjis @narje_s313," which aligns with the previous accounts in its support for Iran and its rapid-fire tweets, in addition to the username containing random letters and numbers.

The "Maysan Al-Khair" account, which published 6 posts, all consisted of videos accompanied by a large number of hashtags, among which the hashtag “Avenging Hussein” was visible. An examination of the Facebook account revealed it to be a commercial page. This page's activity is limited to publishing posts that promote Iran, and it does not interact with any other accounts.

The Most Promoting Accounts for the Hashtags

Data analysis of the campaign showed that the most popular and widespread posts were written by Iraqi and Lebanese Shia accounts. The post with the highest reach was a post by an Iraqi account on Instagram called "شيعة بلا حدود" (Shia Without Borders).

The "Shia Without Borders" account, an Iraqi account created recently in January 2026, generated significant reach, with the post being viewed an estimated more than 900,000 times.

Accounts of the Al Mayadeen channel also contributed to promoting the hashtags supportive of Iran. The channel presents itself as an independent media institution, although several newspapers have classified it as a channel close to the Lebanese Hezbollah.