Baghdad, Dec 9 (EFE).- The powerful Iraqi militia Kataeb Hezbollah said on Saturday that the rocket attack on the US embassy in Baghdad was “just the beginning of a new phase of fighting” and threatened to continue “operations against the US occupation” in Iraq.
The group’s security official, Abu Ali al-Askari, said on Telegram that attacks on US installations would continue “until the last soldier is expelled from the lands of Iraq.”
The official also said that the US Embassy in Baghdad is “a forward base to manage military operations” and “a den of espionage,” justifying Friday’s attack on the diplomatic compound which caused no injuries or damage, but aroused a wave of condemnation in Washington and the Iraqi government.
“Any foolishness on the part of the US enemy will be met with a double response and an expansion of operations,” Al Askari threatened.
Kataeb Hezbollah, classified as a terrorist group by Washington, is part of the Islamic Resistance of Iraq militia, which has claimed more than 80 attacks against US posts in Iraq and Syria since the outbreak of the war in Gaza.
However, the attack on the US embassy marked a serious escalation of these actions.
Faced with the Iraqi government’s inability to control these militias, which have a political wings in the parliament, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani called the rocket fire on the diplomatic mission a “terrorist act” and a “threat to the security” of Iraq.
His words were applauded by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who spoke with Al Sudani on Friday to say that Washington “reserves the right to act in self-defense” against these attacks, and directly accused Kataib Hezbollah of being behind them, according to a press release by the US Department of Defense. EFE
ah-ar-cgs/ics
