Israeli strikes on Iraq “imminent” says US
The US has warned Iraq that Israeli air strikes are “imminent” if the government is unable to purge Iranian-backed militias from its territory, according to TheArabWeekly.
The communication came on November 19th, with Washington telling Baghdad it had exhausted “all means of pressure on Israel” and couldn’t prevent strikes from taking place.
Pro-Iranian armed groups have been launching regular attacks from Iraqi soil since the start of the Gaza conflict, according to Israel hitting a military base in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights in October this year, killing two soldiers and wounding another 24.
Iraqi news reported that Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa Al-Sudani has “directed all security forces to prevent and pursue any military activity outside the control of the state, in response to Israeli threats of targeting Iraq”.
The Iraqi authorities said “legal action is being taken against anyone involved in activities that endanger Iraq’s security and sovereignty”.
The warning was prompted by Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar’s letter to the UN Security Council on the same day, calling for “immediate action regarding the activity of the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq, whose territory is being used to attack Israel”
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According to TheArabWeekly, analysts believe the complaint is just part of the ramping-up of the Israeli war machine, and attacks on Iraq will go ahead regardless of any decision taken by the UN.
Indeed, the Iraqi government, who has been performing a delicate balancing act between Israel on the one hand and Iran on the other, has accused Levantine state of attempting to legitimise attacks on its territory by going to the UN.
It said: “These allegations are merely excuses intended to justify planned aggression against Iraq.”
The government stated that it was already taking measures “to prevent the use of Iraqi territory for launching [Israeli] attacks”.
In an exclusive with MiddleEastEye, Iraqi militias had even claimed that Israel fabricated the attacks that killed two soldiers in October.
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The leaders of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, who proudly target Israel daily, said they did not strike the Golan Heights that day.
Kadhim al-Fartousi, a leader of the Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhadaa subgroup said: “Since October of last year, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has carried out more than 160 operations targeting the Israeli interior and the occupied areas in the Golan Heights, most of which Israel has not acknowledged for various reasons.”
“The resistance announces the operations it carries out as soon as they happen. The resistance did not announce this operation or claim responsibility for it as was reported.”
TheArabWeekly & MiddleEastEye
