A number one Iraqi militia mentioned on Wednesday it had halted assaults on American troops, days after three US troopers had been killed in a drone strike on a base in Jordan that Washington blamed on “radical Iran-backed militant teams”.
“We announce the suspension of army and safety operations towards the occupation forces to be able to forestall embarrassment to the Iraqi authorities,” mentioned Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, secretary-general of Kataib Hizbollah, a Shia power based within the aftermath of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
“We are going to proceed to defend our folks in Gaza in different methods,” he mentioned within the assertion, including that the group’s fighters could be engaged in “passive defence” ought to there be any “hostile American motion” in direction of them.
A Pentagon spokesperson mentioned Sunday’s strike on the Tower 22 base had the “footprints of Kataib Hizbollah”. US President Joe Biden mentioned on Tuesday he had selected a response, but additionally that the US didn’t “want a wider conflict within the Center East. That’s not what I’m searching for.”
On Wednesday, the US attributed the assault to Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group which comprises Kataib Hizbollah.
“We consider that the assault in Jordan was deliberate, resourced and facilitated by an umbrella group known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which comprises a number of teams together with Kataib Hizbollah,” US Nationwide Safety Council spokesman John Kirby mentioned on Wednesday.
Consultants say the IRI emerged after the October 7 assault on Israel that sparked the conflict in Gaza and has since taken credit score for greater than 160 assaults on US troops in Iraq and Syria.
The IRI is a part of the Axis of Resistance managed by Iran that has focused Israeli and US pursuits throughout the Center East for the reason that Hamas assault on Israel.
Requested to answer Kataib Hizbollah’s determination to halt assaults on US troops, the Biden administration dismissed the declare.
“We definitely learn it however we’re not going to take it at face worth. We recognise that they don’t seem to be the one group that has been attacking our services in Iraq and Syria,” Kirby mentioned.
The US has responded with a handful of strikes in Iraq and Syria, together with one this month in Baghdad that killed a senior commander in one other Iran-aligned militia.
US officers say they’re planning a multi-stage response to the dying of the three service members, and are anticipated to focus on Iranian militia leaders in Iraq and Syria, amongst others. Washington has signalled it doesn’t intend to strike Iran instantly.
“We’ll reply on our personal time, on our personal schedule . . . the very first thing you see received’t be the very last thing,” Kirby mentioned on Wednesday.
Biden has met his nationwide safety crew over the previous three days to decide on an choice, and implementing it has “loads of shifting items”, Kirby mentioned.
Lebanon’s Hizbollah, one other arm of the Axis of Resistance, has additionally clashed with Israel on their shared border whereas Houthi rebels in Yemen have attacked delivery within the Purple Sea.
Iran has sought to distance itself from Sunday’s assault, though specialists say little doubt stays that the IRI was accountable. It took credit score for an assault on a US base in Syria on the identical day, simply 20km from the Jordanian base the place the US troopers had been killed.
Iranian officers have harassed they wish to keep away from a regional conflict and don’t need direct battle with Israel or the US. “We aren’t in search of conflict, however we’re not afraid of it,” Main Normal Hossein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, mentioned on Wednesday.
Tensions between the 2 foes have sharpened since Sunday’s assault, elevating fears of escalating violence in Iraq, which is likely one of the main staging grounds for tit-for-tat exchanges. Whereas Baghdad has sporadically condemned the assaults on US and western forces, it has finished little to rein them in.
Tehran yields unrivalled affect over Baghdad’s ruling elite, particularly its governing coalition, which is backed by political events and armed teams near Tehran.
However these allies are divided over the right way to navigate present tensions. Some — together with armed teams extra built-in into state establishments — have quietly pressed the IRI to scale back assaults on the US, two folks near the coalition mentioned.
“These teams are fearful that escalation with America will not be good for enterprise,” mentioned Renad Mansour, director of Chatham Home’s Iraq Initiative. “They’ve a vested curiosity in sustaining the established order wherein they’re consolidating state energy and pursuing financial pursuits.”
But upstart factions within the IRI which are closest to the Revolutionary Guards wish to proceed their assaults in Iraq and Syria. They’re being pressed by Hizbollah, which was additionally cautious of preventing a full-blown conflict with Israel on Lebanese soil and would somewhat maintain stress on the US and Israel elsewhere, added Mansour.
Kataib Hizbollah, like others in Tehran’s axis, should steadiness home pursuits with these of its Iranian sponsors. In its assertion, Kataib Hizbollah pointed to variations amongst “our brothers within the Axis [of Resistance], particularly within the Islamic Republic”.
The blended messages meant it was unlikely that assaults would cease. “There are too many chains of command, too many cooks within the kitchen,” mentioned Mansour.
He added that there have been “two competing pursuits: a need to not escalate, however a necessity to reply, which is what makes this area so precarious proper now”.
Further reporting by Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran
