The car of the leader of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Baqir al-Saadi, after it was targeted by a missile from an American drone (Reuters)

Baghdad -

At a time when the Iraqi government is seeking calm and ending the presence of the international coalition in the country, American forces are again targeting leaders of the Iraqi resistance factions, the latest of which was targeting a car in which the leader of the Iraqi Hezbollah, Abu Baqir al-Saadi, and two of his companions were traveling in Baghdad, after the party announced the cessation of its operations. Against American bases in Iraq and outside it, which sparked official and partisan reactions in the country, amid expectations of an increase in the pace of escalation again.

The US Central Command claimed responsibility for the attack that targeted Al-Saadi in the Al-Mashtal area, east of Baghdad, and said that he was responsible for attacks targeting its forces in the region, noting that there were no indications of collateral damage or casualties among civilians.

Expanding the circle of conflict

The spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, Major General Yahya Rasoul, warned of the country slipping into the ongoing cycle of conflict in the region as a result of repeated American attacks, the most recent of which was the assassination of a leader of the Hezbollah Brigades and his companions in an air strike the day before yesterday in Baghdad.

Rasoul said in a statement, “The American forces repeatedly and irresponsibly commit everything that might undermine the understandings and the start of bilateral dialogue, as they carried out a clear-cut assassination operation, by directing an air strike in the middle of a residential neighborhood in the capital, Baghdad, in a way that does not care about the lives of civilians and the laws.” International, noting that this path pushes the Iraqi government, more than ever before, to end the mission of this coalition, which threatens to drag Iraq into the circle of conflict.

Al-Saadi is a prominent leader in the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades. His name is Wissam Muhammad Saber Al-Saadi, born in 1974, and he belongs to the Popular Mobilization Forces as an advisor, according to identification documents found at the site of the incident.

He is responsible for the drones and missile system of the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, for logistical support and operations abroad, specifically in Syria, and for transporting weapons.

Ending foreign presence

In order to put an end to the repeated American attacks on the positions of the Popular Mobilization Forces and the Iraqi resistance factions and the violation of the country’s sovereignty, more than 100 members of the Iraqi House of Representatives signed a request to legislate the law on removing foreign forces from the country, demanding that an extraordinary session be held to legislate the law and activate the previous parliament’s decision.

The Iraqi House of Representatives, in its previous session, on January 5, 2020, voted on a decision to remove foreign forces from the country, two days after the United States assassinated the Deputy Chairman of the Popular Mobilization Forces, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, and the Commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, General Qassem Soleimani, in an air strike near... Baghdad Airport.

For his part, security expert Fadel Abu Ragheef expects the resistance factions to adhere to what they pledged to stop attacks against American bases, as their decision came after long and complex discussions with Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani to discourage them from any targeting, and to give them an opportunity to negotiate and the negotiating dialogue committee with the American side. Or the international coalition to finalize the withdrawal of the remaining American advisors.

In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, Abu Ragheef believes that “the escalation process this time will depend on the escalation of the American side if it carries out a third operation after the two operations targeting the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces in the Al-Qaim area and the new operation in Baghdad,” indicating that things are moving towards calm if the side commits itself. The US did not commit any further violation.

In a remarkable development, the armed factions in Iraq announced, yesterday, Friday, the resumption of their military operations against American bases.

The statement of the armed factions falling under the description of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq stated that “what the Islamic Resistance gave today, the opportunity for the occupation forces to leave the holy land as a lifeline, was not obtained yesterday, despite their mediations and pleas before their defeat in 2011. At that time, the resistance mujahideen were driving the occupation soldiers to... Blazing fire, and they will turn its foundations into ruins and rubble.”

Fears of escalation

For his part, political analyst Falah Al-Mishaal believes that the factions’ announcement of ending the truce and confronting the presence of American forces confirms that the war inside Iraq will open new doors, and this step indicates beyond doubt that Iraq’s involvement in this open war has become a reality, despite the fact that the Sudanese government is working With conciliatory steps to calm matters and transfer differences to the dialogue table to agree on a timetable for the withdrawal of international coalition forces and to establish a new bilateral agreement for the American presence in Iraq.

Al-Mishaal told Al-Jazeera Net, “The reality indicates a state of extreme embarrassment for the government and its being pushed into what it cannot do. It cannot restrain the factions close to Iran on the one hand, nor take a hostile stance against America, and in the event that the political forces and other authorities do not intervene to address matters and calm the interior.” "In Iraq, things are going to deteriorate with undesirable consequences."

Despite the lack of clarity in Kataib Hezbollah’s position on continuing to attack American bases or its commitment to what it pledged earlier, to stop the attacks to give the government an opportunity to negotiate the removal of coalition forces from the country, the Al-Nujaba Movement, headed by Sheikh Akram Al-Kaabi, confirmed that its response will be focused, and that “ The crimes of the Americans will not go unpunished,” indicating in a statement that “patience has run out and we will choose to respond at the appropriate time and place.”

Kataib Hezbollah was established following the United States’ invasion of Iraq in 2003. It is one of the Iraqi armed elite factions, the strongest armed faction among the Islamic resistance factions in Iraq, and an umbrella group that includes Shiite armed groups that have claimed responsibility for more than 150 attacks on American forces since the start of the war on Iraq. Gaza.

Source: Al Jazeera