Iraqi armed group promises revenge for US-Saudi strikes

The leader of Iraq’s Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba militia has promised retaliation for joint Saudi-US strikes last month that hit sites of the country’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), of which it is a member.

In a statement, Akram al-Kaabi said diplomacy with Saudi Arabia is “futile”, and that it must be disciplined “through a suitable military response” to avenge the strikes on the PMF.

“Missiles can only be countered with missiles, and fire can only be met with fire,” he said.

Saudi Arabia and the US Central Command said last month that the joint air strikes targeted Iran-backed militias in Iraq responsible for attacks on American troops and Saudi energy infrastructure.

The PMF, a paramilitary force, said at least 20 of its members were killed and 32 wounded in the strikes.

On Friday, Iraq’s Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi ⁠met Saudi Arabian Intelligence chief Khalid bin Ali al-Humaidan in Baghdad, with the Iraqi leader reiterating a pledge that Iraqi soil would not become a launch pad for attacks on any other country. Al-Humaidan extended a renewed invitation to al-Zaidi to visit Riyadh after the prime minister cancelled a planned trip over the attacks.

Unclear who started shooting first as regional attacks shatter calm

Iran’s IRGC says it fired missiles at a US airbase in Jordan in response to “aggressive actions” by the US military.

So the question is whether this was a specific response to the US-Saudi joint strikes on the Iraqi paramilitary group, the Popular Mobilization Forces.

CENTCOM’s statement has not clarified which attack happened first.

Recently, the spokesperson of the Iranian army said Iran’s responses are retaliatory and if the US doesn’t attack Iran, it will not attack US bases across the region.

At the moment, it remains unclear who started the strikes, but what is clear is the region is on edge again after days of relative calm in the Middle East.

Iraq’s Kurdish region wants to stay out of regional conflicts, Barzani says

Masrour Barzani, the prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, says the semi-autonomous Kurdish region does not want to become involved in the ongoing regional conflict sparked by the US-Israel war on Iran, adding that it supports Baghdad’s efforts to bring weapons under state control.

“No party has pressured us to get involved in the war and we do not want to be a party to any conflict in the region,” Barzani said.

He said the region’s infrastructure has been severely damaged by more than 1,000 missile and drone attacks since the war began on February 28, either directly from Iran or from within Iraq via militias.

Barzani called the attacks “unjustified”, saying “any issue must be resolved peacefully” through dialogue.

Iraq says it foiled drone attack plot

Haider al-Abboudi, the Iraqi government spokesman, says a network that planned an attack on certain targets with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has been dismantled.

A statement by al-Abboudi said a joint operation by the counterterrorism and national intelligence services infiltrated the network and raided its members, which resulted in their arrest and the seizure of equipment that was in their possession, including drones.

Al-Abboudi claimed the network “planned to carry out UAV attacks against specific targets”, and that this attack plan was thwarted. No information was given about the identities of the network members or the locations they planned to target.

The regional government in northern Iraq and some Gulf countries have recently stated that they have been subjected to drone attacks allegedly carried out by “pro-Iranian militias” from Iraq.

Sabah al-Nu’man, the spokesman for the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said on Friday that Iraq would not allow its territory to be used to threaten neighboring countries.