Above photo: AFP via Getty Images.
The country’s defense minister says Washington informed him of upcoming US operations ‘near Iraq’.
The US has issued its “final” and “most serious” warning to Iraq regarding the Iran-linked resistance factions in the country, according to Iraqi Defense Minister Thabit al-Abbasi.
Abbasi said in an interview over the weekend that Washington’s latest message “concerns armed factions and includes a direct threat in the event that those factions carry out any operations in response to what Washington intends to do in the region near Iraq in the coming days.”
No further details were provided on what exactly these US operations would entail. The minister said the message was relayed during a call with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Hegseth ended the call by saying “This is your final warning… and you know very well how the current administration will respond,” Abbasi went on to say.
The Iraqi minister said the conversation, which lasted about 12 minutes and included senior Iraqi military officials, also touched on cooperation regarding drones, a proposed intelligence-sharing memorandum, and a pending deal for Bell helicopters.
Analysts told Asharq al-Awsat that the warning reflects a new US approach against ‘Iranian influence’ in Iraq.
Dr. Ihsan al-Shammari, head of the Center for Political Thought, told the Saudi newspaper that the Iraqi resistance factions have “become targets.”
“They have no choice but to be with the state and disarm, or to wait for possible US military operations,” he added.
In October 2023, several Iraqi resistance factions banded together and began targeting US bases in Iraq and Syria, as well as targets in Israel, in support of the Palestinian resistance in Gaza following the start of the genocide.
The attacks on US bases ended due to intense Iraqi government pressure after the killing of three US soldiers on the Jordan–Syria border in January 2024. The following month, US warplanes launched heavy strikes on resistance sites in Iraq.
Iraqi factions continued to target Israel for months after ending operations against US bases.
The Iraqi factions even carried out joint operations with the Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF). This coalition included Kataib Hezbollah, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, and the Al-Nujaba Movement.
Recently, Washington has increased pressure on Baghdad to dismantle Iraq’s resistance, which is backed mainly by the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Over the last few years, Baghdad has held talks with the factions about the issue of disarmament. Yet, the issue hinges mainly on the presence of the US military in Iraq and the groups’ insistence on a full withdrawal.
Abbasi’s revelation to Iraqi media comes days after Hebrew newspaper Maariv reported that the Israeli army and Mossad intelligence agency are preparing for a “developing threat” coming from Iraqi resistance factions.
This “threat to the Israeli home front” is because “the Iranians are investing a lot of resources in militias and terrorist infrastructure in Iraq, so that they can attack Israel from the air and on land if the order is given,” sources in the Israeli army’s northern command told Maariv.
