US bolstering presence in Iraq to aid Israel: Iraqi resistance
Iraqi resistance group Ashab al-Kahf called on the country’s prime minister to ‘be aware’ of the growing US presence in Iraq
By
News Desk
– April 23 2023
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(Photo credit: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)
Iraqi resistance group, Ashab al-Kahf, issued a statement on Sunday warning that the US military is beefing up its presence in Iraq with the aim of securing Israel.
“American intelligence personnel is using Iraqi airspace frequently these days … to transfer personnel and technical equipment from the Kuwaiti Jahra base to the Victory site located at Baghdad Airport,” the statement read.
“We must also pay attention to what the Americans are planning in this particular period, which is to help the temporary Israeli entity and to increase the transfer of logistical support through Iraqi airspace,” it added.
The statement also called on Iraq’s Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, to “be aware” of Washington’s growing presence in the country.
The Ashab al-Kahf resistance group was formed in 2019, just five months before the illegal US airstrike in Iraq, which killed the leader of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, and the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani.
In 2020, the group claimed responsibility for several IED attacks on convoys delivering supplies to US military bases in Iraq.
At the time, Evan Kohlmann, US-based MSNBC analyst and terrorism consultant wrote that the Ashab al-Kahf attacks were “designed to send a deliberate message: US supply lines can be cut off if the US military refuses to withdraw from Iraq.”
Ashab al-Kahf has threatened to attack US bases all across West Asia, including Qatar’s Al-Udeid base. The group has also targeted Turkish forces in Iraq.
Following the assassination of Soleimani and Muhandis, the Iraqi parliament voted on and passed a resolution calling for the withdrawal of US troops from the country.
The resolution specifically called for the cancellation of Iraq’s formal request for US military assistance against ISIS, which was issued in 2014. Washington completely rejected this resolution.
In response to the bill, former US president Donald Trump threatened Iraq with sanctions.
Earlier this month, Sudani said that a US combat presence in Iraq was no longer needed, given that ISIS was no longer a threat. Months earlier, the Iraqi prime minister had expressed approval of an indefinite US military presence in Iraq, which he said was needed to fully eradicate ISIS.
On 7 March, Washington’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a visit to the country that US forces will “remain in Iraq.”
Washington’s illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 directly resulted in the formation of the Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), which crossed over into Syria in 2011 with US and Saudi support – subsequently becoming ISIS.
Keywords
Abu Mahdi al Muhandis
