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Iran’s most powerful ally in Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah, announced on January 30 the suspension of its operations against United States forces in the Middle East, just two days after a drone attack killed American troops.
“We are announcing the suspension of military and security operations against the [U.S.] occupation forces – in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government,” the group said in a statement.
“We will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways, and we recommend to the brave Mujahideen of the Free Hezbollah Brigades to [carry out] passive defense (temporarily) if any hostile American action occurs towards them.”
The group also said that it had carried out attacks against U.S. forces at its “own will, and without any interference from others.”
“On the contrary, our brothers in the axis – especially in the Islamic Republic [of Iran] – do not know how we work jihad, and they often object to the pressure and escalation against the American occupation forces in Iraq and Syria,” the group noted.
Kataib Hezbollah is said to be a key faction of the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), who claimed responsibility for the majority of some 165 attacks that have targeted U.S. forces in the country and neighboring Syria since October 17- ten days after the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
The group’s surprise move came just two days after a suicide drone struck a U.S. base known as Tower 22 on the Syrian-Jordanian border, killing three American troops and wounding some 40 others.
Commenting on Kataib Hezbollah statement, Defense Department spokesperson Brigade General Patrick Ryder said that “actions speak louder than words.”
“We have called on the Iranian proxy groups to stop their attacks. They have not, and so we will respond in a time and manner of our choosing. When I say actions speak louder than words, there have been three attacks to my knowledge since the 28th of January, and I’ll just leave it there,” he told reporters.
In addition to launching attacks against U.S. forces, the IRI has targeted Israel more than once, launching suicide drones and even cruise missiles at military sites and infrastructure. Kataib Hezbollah didn’t say that attacks on Israel will be suspended.
The U.S. and Iraq are expected to soon begin talks on the future of the American military presence in the country, amid public calls from the Iraqi government for the U.S. to withdraw.
Kataib Hezbollah’s decision may be meant to facilitate the talks with the U.S. and deny Washington any excuse to launch attacks on Iraq.
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brown envelopes stuffed with worthless $$$ + empty cia threats = another group caves into yankee pressure.
rule 1. never trust yoosa.
rule 2. never cower or capitulate to yoosa.
rule 3. never negotiate with yoosa.
rule 4. see rule 1.
ps: take note rus!!
mali im dať mesiac na stiahnutie sa z iraku!!! takto to nevyzerá vôbec dobre. nezainteresovaní si budú myslieť, že sa spolčili z okupantami. lebo inak tento ich posledný útok bol ozaj veľmi dobre pripravený a prevedený. svetu mier!!!
sounds fishy to me. anybody else? they start getting some successes and then stop attacking the invaders who are screwing their country to the wall. why should the iraqi gov’t be embarrassed by freedom fighters who are trying to liberate their land? sounds to me that now this group is getting results, someone at the top is beginning to earn their soon to be worthless dollars.
yeah this is bizarre. they need to increase their effort not back off.
seems strategically sound to me. it provides iran the needed cover, and since the us will retaliate, it will allow them to resume attacks.
my honest opinion (i could be completely wrong) is that the iraqi government told these militias that the usa signalled they’re willing to withdraw from the country. but any attacks might impede that process and prompt them to stay, so it might be in the interest of everyone for the attacks to temporarily cease. i doubt they’re aligning with the usa, though.
if the iraqi govt believe these murikan “signals” then please give me their contact address asap, as i have a wonderful bridge for sale…
possible, time will tell
sounds like a de-facto confession to the tower outpost 22 attack under pressure from iran in a serious attempt to de-conflict the situation .kataib hezbollah has a long history of attacking usa forces .
‘hezbollah has a long history of attacking usa forces’
but not as long as yoosa’s history of inflicting its forces and presence on countries and regions where they are neither wanted nor welcome.
btw, the phrase “yanks go home” is of a similar vintage.
presumably kataib hezbollah’s top people have now been paid the amount they were seeking. it was said apparently by the cia that invading afghanistan was unnecessary – just pay the enemies of the taliban to fight them. after all, kataib hezbollah’s top people did not need to give comfort to the zionist/imperial enemy by announcing it. later resuming attacks would also highlight their mistake.
what the fuck hezbollah?
iraq’s kataib hezbollah – not lebanon hezbollah.
hezbollah in arabic means party of allah or party of god. kataib hezbollah in arabic means battalions of the party of god.
also, they announces halt of attacks on us forces – how long? it could be a week or weeks. but we know they got a deal out of it… so we have to wait and see what that was.
p.s kataib hezbollah is one of the iraqi pmus.
kataib hezbollah says ” they (=iran) often object to the pressure and escalation against american occupation forces in syria and iraq” so strange, what’s going on?
they want a war, but they don’t want to be the one that start it… do you know what i mean?
okay, russia-ukraine war. russia blame ukraine for attacking dpr/lpr to move into ukraine. but russia goal wasn’t to only protect russian-ukrainian speakers in the region but to also stop nato.
i say this, iran and egypt are the only two countries in the region that aren’t pro-western and they aren’t invaded yet (again). they want to stop israel and the us as well…
also, kataib hezbollah is one of the pmus in iraq – they don’t know iran and iran’s allies plans.
foreign minister of iran, hossein amir-abdollahian: the iranian response to american threats will be decisive and direct
‘no threat will go unanswered’, irgc chief warns us against escalating regional tensions
again they don’t want to be seen as if they were the one starting the war.
if the freedom fighters are suspending attacks against us military targets then they will double down on military attacks against the idf the jewish military units are mostly reserve troops that’s why the jews in israel are having to withdraw these units because of the heavy causality numbers they are taking
cowards. no martyrdom for you! no paradise!
why these groups announce anything to the west is unfathomable. if they announce anything it should be misinformation to fool pisrael/western terror regimes. this groups leadership must be compromised.