Middle East
Members of the Kataib Hezbollah, attend the funeral of a fighter killed in a US strike earlier in the day, during a funeral in Baghdad on November 22, 2023. Photo: Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The spokesperson of an Iran-backed Iraqi militia group on Thursday told Rudaw that the ceasefire deal between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas Movement does not include the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow militia groups that have repeatedly attacked US bases in Iraq and Syria over the past month.
A four-day truce between Israel and Hamas came into effect on Friday morning, bringing to a pause the war that has claimed the lives of over 13,000 Palestinians and 1,200 Israelis since October 7. Hamas is set to release 50 Israeli hostages over the next four days in exchange for 150 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, a brigade of the Iraqi government-linked Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), said that they have not been contacted regarding a truce, adding that they will continue to hold the US accountable for supporting Israel’s war on Gaza and violating Iraq’s sovereignty.
“The situation is separate… there are martyrs who fell two days ago, and naturally this is a crime that attacks Iraqi sovereignty and the PMF. Therefore, it cannot pass easily and there cannot be a truce without bearing responsibility for violating sovereignty and spilling the blood of the martyrs,” Kadhim al-Fartusi, spokesperson of the group told Rudaw.
A close-range ballistic missile attack by Iran-backed militias on Ain al-Assad airbase, which houses US troops in Iraq’s Anbar, left eight American personnel injured. The attack triggered two retaliatory strikes from the US military on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing at least nine pro-Iran fighters.
Iraqi authorities condemned the US airstrikes after eight members of the PMF were killed in a US airstrike in Jurf al-Nasr (formerly Jurf al-Sakhar) in northern Babil province, around 60 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq on Thursday claimed striking US troops twice in Syria and twice in Iraq.
US President Joe Biden on Wednesday wrote in a letter to the congressional leadership that Washington stands ready to pursue further action against Iran-affiliated militias in Iraq and Syria in accordance with the its right to self-defense.
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