Pro-Iran Iraqi militias threaten to escalate attacks if Israel invades Lebanon

1 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The pro-Iranian militia Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a conglomerate of armed Shiite groups, has threatened this Sunday to escalate its attacks in the region if Israel finally decides to invade Lebanon to finish off the Lebanese Shiite party-militia Hezbollah, with which it has been engaged in a series of clashes on the common border following the start of the conflict in the Gaza Strip.

“The Iraqi Resistance Coordination Committee has met following threats by the American-Zionist enemy to launch an all-out war against Lebanon and its brave resistance, and the coordination has decided that if the Zionists carry out their threat, the pace and quality of operations against them will intensify,” the group said in a statement carried by the Iraqi television channel Al Sumaria.

In this sense, it has opened the door to resuming operations against US military bases in Iraq, which it will consider as “legitimate targets” several months after having ceased attacks against them.

Likewise, he mentioned the oil pipeline that connects the Iraqi city of Basra with the Jewish city of Aqaba, which “empties Iraq of enormous sums of money without economic benefit for the country.”

The statement came a week after the pro-Iranian Iraqi militia Kataib Sayid al Shuhada, a member of the Islamic Resistance, expressed its willingness to join Hezbollah.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, made up mainly of Kataib Hezbollah, Al Nujaba and Asaib Ahl al Haq, began attacking US bases in Syria and Iraq at the start of the war in Gaza, although they ceased their activities after the death of several US soldiers following an operation in Jordan. They then began carrying out actions against Israeli positions and have even coordinated with the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

The Israeli army and Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran and has significant political clout in Lebanon, have been engaged in a series of clashes since October 8, a day after attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian factions.

Tensions have been rising in recent weeks and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently warned that the Israeli Army “is prepared for a very powerful action” on the border with Lebanon, while the Army itself claims to already have a prepared plan for it.