Alwaght- As the region sinks deeper in a war the US and the Israeli regime waged against Iran, Iraq everyday moves closer to full involvement in a snowballing regional conflict.
Firstly, as serious warnings of Iran about the moves of separatist terrorists acting against Iran from the Iraqi Kurdistan region were ignored, Tehran struck positions and headquarters of these groups in the border regions and then attacked their positions deeper in the autonomous region as the Kurdistan Regional Government’s leaders failed to do their part of good neighborliness duty. In addition to destruction of the terrorists’ infrastructures, the illegal American military base of Al-Harir and other bases established by Mossad, the CIA, and the NATO members to hit Iranian interests came under Iranian missile and drone strikes. The strikes reportedly killed and injured several French and German officers. According to Tasnim news agency, several European countries including France and Italy have begun evacuation of their military posts in Erbil to avoid further casualties and damage to the military.
Secondly, the American occupation forces, who are present in Iraq against the wishes and will of the Iraqi people and government, have recently focused their activities in northern Iraq to shield themselves from retaliatory strikes by Iraqi resistance groups. In recent days, they have launched attacks on the offices of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and certain resistance factions; however, it remains unclear whether the Israeli regime’s army played a role in these assaults.
Last Thursday, as a result of American-Israeli attacks on three bases of the 19th Brigade of the PMF in Al-Qaem border region located in western Iraq, at least 22 Iraqi fighters were martyred and several others were injured. Moreover, intermittent clashes between resistance forces and the US terrorist army had occurred days prior, which included the confirmed downing of at least one F-15 fighter jet and a US refueling aircraft in Iraqi airspace.
The situation appears to be escalating, with increasing attacks against American forces on the horizon. It seems that the US aggressive actions have jeopardized the Prime Minister Mohammad Shia al-Sudani government’s efforts to keep Iraq away from conflict. In one instance, the Saraya Awliyaa al-Dam movement, part of the Iraqi resistance, announced yesterday that over the past 24 hours, its “brave fighters had conducted eight unique operations against American invaders, targeting their bases both inside and outside Iraq.”
Additionally, at the military leadership level, Faleh al-Fayyad, the commander of the PMF, in a recent phone conversation with Iraqi President Abdul Karim al-Rashid, explicitly emphasized that PMF fighters remain committed to their duty of defending Iraq, its security, and sovereignty, continuing their national responsibilities in protecting the country.
The ruling Shiite Coordination Framework (SCF), meanwhile, at an emergency meeting condemned attacks on the PMF and Iraqi security forces positions while rejecting attacks on diplomatic missions and vital facilities, signaling rejection of the recent American pressures on the government to force the resistance forces to turn a blind eye to the US using the country’s airspace to launch attacks on Iran. Since the war began, Washington pressured al-Sudani for security forces to prevent anti-American actions by the resistance forces, unfortunately leading to cases of anti-resistance measures.
Some analysts view the targeting of PMF bases along the Syrian border as a deliberate and targeted strategy, interpreting these attacks as a wake-up call for the potential infiltration of terrorist groups from Syria into Iraq and the US push to create a vacuum at the border. Such a vacuum could serve as a pretext for the dangerous scenario of transferring ISIS terrorists into Iraqi territory in the coming weeks, jeopardizing the stability and security of the country within the broader project of a “Greater Middle East.” Iranian officials have repeatedly stated that the ultimate goal of these hostilities against Iran is an attempt to partition the country.
Overall, it seems that following the outbreak of resistance in Lebanon, the furnace of Iraq’s resistance against the US is rapidly heating up. This not only has significant implications for the course of the conflict and the increasing failure of American plans to prevent its expansion and entrenchment but also represents a pivotal event for determining the final outcome of over two decades of US occupation in Iraq.
In this connection, Faras al-Yasser, a member of the political council of the Nujaba Movement, stated: “The Axis of Resistance is consolidating its positions in this war. The targeting and destruction of American bases in the Persian Gulf countries by Iraq’s Islamic resistance is evidence of precision in target selection.”
“After the targeting of two refueling aircraft in western Iraq, one of which was shot down and the other managed to escape and reportedly land in Israel safely, the skies of Iraq have become unsafe for both the US and the Israeli regime,” al-Yasser continued.
He added that Lebanese Hezbollah is reckoning. It is attacking significant sites and places that influence the war. “We predict that the Yemeni mujahideen will have a strong involvement, which can lead to closure of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. The enemy is largely confused and has sustained considerably damages it is hiding them. Wait for big surprises in Iraq.”
