IRAQ’S KATAIB HEZBOLLAH DENIES IT HAS RESUMED OPERATIONS AGAINST US FORCES

Mon 22 April 2024:

Iran-aligned Iraqi resistance faction, Kataib Hezbollah, has reportedly announced a resumption of its military operations against US forces. This decision comes after the group had declared a suspension of such activities in January, aiming to avoid diplomatic tensions and potential “embarrassment” for the Iraqi government.

The announcement came hours after at least five rockets were fired from Iraq at a US military base in Syria in the first such attack since early February, according to Reuters. The timing of the attack also comes a day after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani returned from a visit to the US, where he met with President Joe Biden at the White House.

However, Reuters also notes that the group later denied these statements, saying they were fabricated. A statement on their Telegram stated that they were not resuming attacks on US forces.

“What happened a short while ago is the beginning,” the group said in an apparent reference to the attack late yesterday.

The alleged reversal of Kataib Hezbollah’s stance comes amid growing involvement of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, which is a coalition within the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), in the wider regional conflict centred on the genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza.

Kataib Hezbollah and other factions have been targeting US bases in Iraq and Syria in support of the Palestinian resistance, and in some cases have launched missiles and drones towards the occupation state, including the port of Eilat.

On late Friday, an explosion at a base used by the PMF killed one member and injured eight others. The PMF later claimed.

-MEMO

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