The Cradle, September 28, 2024 —The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI) announced its readiness for a comprehensive war with Israel in response to a series of massive Israeli strikes on the southern suburbs of Beirut overnight, Al-Akhbar reported on 28 September.
The Israeli bombing campaign targeted the headquarters of Hezbollah as well as civilian residential buildings in Beirut’s Dahiye neighborhoods, causing major destruction. The number of victims remains unclear but is expected to be large, as many were buried underneath the rubble of the destroyed buildings.
Ali al-Mahdi, the leader of the Iraqi resistance, told Al-Akhbar in a statement that “the armed factions have the full capacity and readiness in terms of fighters, weapons, and drones to fight a long war on a regional level. Therefore, any development in Hezbollah’s war with the entity will directly drag the factions into an open war without red lines.”
“Throughout the previous period, and through the coordination of the resistance axis, training has been conducted and plans are being drawn up for scenarios that may occur, including an open war in Lebanon.”
“The resistance is fully prepared if it is necessary to go to Lebanon, or to continue carrying out strikes deep inside Israel with long-range missiles,” he added.
The IRI, an umbrella group comprised of Iraqi armed groups, announced it has carried out more than 44 qualitative military operations during the past two weeks against military sites inside Israel, achieving direct hits that led to the injury and destruction of infrastructure.
On 25 September, the IRI launched a drone attack targeting a “vital” target in the southern Israeli port of Eilat and an Israeli site in the Jordan Valley in the occupied West Bank. An Iraqi drone had penetrated Israeli airspace on the evening of 24 September, making an impact at a military base.
“The Israeli occupation does not accurately announce the results of the damage caused by the Iraqi operations, but rather constantly lies or even tries to hide them from the media, despite our certainty that they targeted enemy soldiers, as well as Mossad headquarters or sensitive and important facilities,” Mahdi added.
At the same time, the Secretary-General of the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, Abu Alaa al-Walaei, told Al-Akhbar that the UAE would also be a target of the Iraqi resistance, due to the Gulf nation’s collaboration with Israel.
The UAE, which constitutes “the advanced position of the Zionist entity in the Gulf, will be the first line of fire for the resistance in the event of the outbreak of war,” Walaei said in a statement.
“The missiles of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and its drones, which have now reached deep into the Zionist entity, will make it very easy for them to reach the alternative sites of the usurping entity in the region,” the Secretary-General added, referring to the UAE and other Arab countries that have normalized relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords.
The IRI is also bracing for a possible Israeli attack on Iraq.
A source close to another IRI faction, the Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq, told Al-Akhbar, “There is a possibility for the Iraqi resistance to open additional fronts if Israel escalates its attacks in Lebanon or attacks Iraq.”
The source added that “the Hezbollah Brigades have information that American and Israeli drones are flying in the skies of Iraq on reconnaissance flights. They may carry out strikes against our sites or target our leaders, and in both cases, we will respond against the sites belonging to the aggression, in addition to the American bases.”
In the same context, the Jihad and Construction movement announced in a statement the formation of a “Jihadists” brigade in Iraq to fight the Israeli army in Lebanon. “The door has been opened for volunteering in the brigade to support the Islamic resistance in Lebanon,” the group said.