Iraqi resistance warns US, Israel amid regional tensions

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has vowed to respond to any “foolish” act against the Arab country or the Axis of Resistance by the US or Israel.

“Replacing the names of the American occupation sometimes with ‘coalition’ and other times with ‘sustainable security partnership’ or others has no value, as long as their occupying forces are entrenched on the chest of wounded Iraq, violating its sovereignty, violating its airspace, and controlling the security decisions in it, like their dominance over joint operations and other security junctures,” the Iraqi umbrella group of anti-terror groups said in a statement on Friday.

The statement noted that the US has deployed more troops to Iraq, “confirming that they have no intentions on the horizon to withdraw from the country.”

Iraq adopted a law to expel foreign forces after Washington’s assassination of top Iraqi and Iranian anti-terror commanders in 2020.

General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), were martyred along with their comrades in a US drone strike authorized by then President Donald Trump near Baghdad International Airport on January 3 that year.

The two iconic anti-terror commanders are greatly revered for their instrumental role in fighting and decimating Daesh in the region, most notably in Iraq and neighboring Syria.

Iraq’s resistance to go tough if diplomacy fails to expel US forces: Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq

Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq is a faction of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

In the statement, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq also slammed Washington over its unwavering support for Israel, holding it “fully responsible” for “any foolish act” by the American or the Israel forces in Iraq or the countries of the Axis of Resistance.

“Our response will be direct wherever our hands are able to reach," it said.

The coalition has been staging attacks on Israeli targets since the occupying regime launched a genocidal war on Gaza in October.

The Iraqi resistance forces have also conducted dozens of strikes on the US-run military installations in both Iraq and Syria amid growing anti-US sentiments in the region over Washington’s support for the Israeli genocidal campaign in Gaza.

Israel launched its atrocious onslaught against the Gaza Strip, targeting hospitals, residences, and places of worship, since Palestinian resistance movements launched a surprise attack, dubbed Operation al-Aqsa Storm, against the usurping regime on October 7.

At least 33,634 Palestinians have been killed, most of them women and children. Another 76,214 individuals have sustained injuries as well.

The Friday statement comes as Iran has vowed to punish Israel for the April 1 airstrike on the Iranian consulate in the Syrian capital Damascus.

The Israeli attack killed two senior Iranian military personnel who were on an advisory mission to Syria as well as five of their accompanying officers.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, and his deputy General Mohammad Hadi Haji Rahimi were among the seven martyrs of the terrorist attack.

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