Iraq sees a risk of regional conflict if the current truce in Gaza is not turned into a permanent ceasefire, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Foreign Affairs adviser said, as mediators sought an extension of the temporary four-day Israel-Hamas truce, Reuters reports.
Israel’s devastating bombardment of Gaza in response to Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel has drawn in Iran-aligned armed groups in the region, including Lebanese Hezbollah and several Iraqi factions, who have mounted near daily attacks on Israeli and US forces.
But there have been no reports of attacks on US forces in Iraq or Syria since Israel and Hamas began a four-day truce last week that expires on Monday, compared to over 70 in the weeks prior.
Some of the main Iraqi armed factions behind the recent attacks, including Kataib Sayyid Al-Shuhada and Kataeb Hezbollah, have announced they will abide by the Gaza ceasefire, but indicated they would resume attacks if it ends.
They have also said in statements that they still seek the eventual ouster of US forces in Iraq. There are around 2,500 US troops on a mission the US says is to advise and assist Iraqi forces battling remnants of Daesh.
Two sets of US strikes in Iraq last week killed 10 members of Kataeb Hezbollah, according to posts by the group on social media, a move condemned by the Iraqi government as escalatory and a violation of sovereignty.
Kataeb Hezbollah is part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a group of mostly Shia Muslim armed groups formed to fight Daesh in 2014 that became an official security agency under the command of the Prime Minister.
While technically part of the State, some of the PMF’s most powerful factions often act outside the chain of command. Sudani has said attacks by armed groups on foreign forces in Iraq were unlawful and went against the country’s national interest.
Source : MEMO
