Iraqi militias reportedly agree to end drone attacks on Israel
Source tells Hezbollah-aligned al-Akhbar outlet that agreement was made with Baghdad government to end assaults due to volatile situation in region, uncertainty over Trump policies
Shiite militia groups in Iraq have decided to stop attacking Israel, a Lebanese report claimed Monday, in what would mark the latest retreat by a regional Iranian proxy that had attempted to pile pressure on Jerusalem.
Iraq-based militias have launched dozens of attack drones at Israel since war broke out in Gaza following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault, alongside other members of Iran’s so-called Axis of Resistance, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and pro-Iran groups in Syria.
While most of the attacks from Iraq have been largely ineffective, in October, two soldiers were killed and 24 others wounded when an Iraqi drone hit their Golan Heights base.
According to Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, seen as linked to the Iran-backed Hezbollah terror group, the militia groups operating under the Popular Mobilization Forces agreed to stop the attacks at the urging of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani.
The report cited an unnamed leader of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba, an Iraqi militia loyal to Iran, which wields wide influence over Shiite groups in the country.
He said the factions were waiting for US President-elect Donald Trump to take office next month to see how he approaches the region and particularly Iran.
An official from the allied Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada group told al-Akbar that the Iraqi faction had ended its attacks in coordination with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which agreed late last month to halt its rocket and drone launches after months of punishing counterattacks from Israel.
The official also noted that the militia had “partners in Iraq who have an opinion and reservations about those operations, and they must be listened to.”
What matters, the official said, is that “there is communication between the parties of the Axis of Resistance for the purpose of coordinating positions and coming up with a unified vision.”
According to the Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba leader, the groups also agreed to avoid getting involved in Syria, where Islamist rebels earlier this month ousted the regime of Iran-backed dictator Bashar al-Assad. He cited concerns that Iraq could experience worse instability than Syria, leading to a resurgence of terrorism.
Tehran, he said, had given the factions freedom of choice on how to act regarding Syria.
The source described reported pressure on the Iraqi government to shut down the PMF and other factions and confiscate their arms as a US-Israeli plot to bring about “the surrender of the Axis of Resistance.”
According to Al-Akhbar, Sudani recently denied that there was any such plan.
There was no outside confirmation of the report.
On October 7, 2023, the Iran-backed Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people and opened the still-ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
The following day, Iran’s Lebanese proxy Hezbollah began firing across the border at northern Israel, causing the evacuation of 60,000 residents from the area. The fighting spiraled into open war in September that ended last month with a fragile ceasefire after Israel decimated the Hezbollah leadership and its weapons stockpiles.
Days later, Syrian rebels swept across the country, taking the capital Damascus while Assad fled.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels have also been firing rockets and drones at Israel from Yemen, including several attacks last week, one of which saw 16 people injured when a missile hit Tel Aviv Saturday.
Israel has bombed Houthi sites in Yemen three times over the past year, but the group has vowed to continue its attacks.
