{"id":91371,"date":"2020-12-24T07:47:51","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T12:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=91371"},"modified":"2020-12-24T07:47:51","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T12:47:51","slug":"auto-draft-388","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2020\/12\/24\/auto-draft-388\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran-Backed Iraqi Militants Deny Involvement in US Embassy Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON – This week, two Iran-backed militias in Iraq denied responsibility for a rocket attack Sunday on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.<\/p>\n

The groups are the usual suspects when American interests come under attack in Iraq and it\u2019s rare for them to publicly deny carrying out an attack on a U.S. target.<\/p>\n

But after Sunday\u2019s incident, which saw several small rockets land inside Baghdad\u2019s fortified Green Zone, wounding at least two Iraqi civilians, both of the Iranian proxy groups released statements denying any role.<\/p>\n

The most prominent Iran-backed group, Kataib Hezbollah (KH), went a step further by condemning the attack as \u201cindiscriminate.”<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bombing of the embassy of evil at this time is an uncontrolled act, and the relevant authorities should follow up and arrest the perpetrators,\u201d said KH in a statement published in local Iraqi media Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe condemn the indiscriminate shelling of the military barracks of the American Embassy because it is a real threat to civilian lives,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed the attack on pro-Iran Shi\u2019ite militias, calling for the support of Iraqi people in \u201ctheir government\u2019s efforts to reinforce Iraq\u2019s sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Secretary<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
FILE – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks to the media at the State Department, Nov. 24, 2020 in Washington.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe same militias targeting diplomatic facilities are stealing Iraqi state resources on a massive scale, attacking peaceful protesters and activists, and engaging in sectarian violence,\u201d said Pompeo, adding that no Americans were harmed.<\/p>\n

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi this week called the attack an act of terror, declaring that a number of suspects had already been arrested.<\/p>\n

\u201cYesterday\u2019s bombing of the Green Zone is a cowardly act of terrorism, and the missiles landed on Iraqis and wounded them, and we will not accept any attack on diplomatic missions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Fear of retaliation<\/strong><\/p>\n

While describing attacks on U.S. military installations as legitimate, Qais Al-Khazali, the leader of anti-American Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, said in a statement that his forces will not assault diplomatic missions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTargeting the bases of the American occupation is a right guaranteed by the divine laws and the laws of Earth, and we will not stop until our country is liberated,\u201d said Al-Khazali, who was once a U.S. military detainee in Iraq. \u00a0<\/p>\n

While it is not unprecedented for Iranian proxy groups to deny attacks that cause civilian casualties, observers say the explicit nature of condemnation by a group such as KH appears to show the militants are concerned about shaping public perception of the attacks, and their vulnerability to U.S. airstrikes from the outgoing Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Fasail [factions] want to avoid retaliation for their actions, so they create fake front organizations (like Jabbarin) and publicly denounce the attacks. They are hoping to create doubt that will allow them to keep attacking,\u201d said Michael Knights, an Iraq analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East policy.<\/p>\n

The attack appeared to increase fears among Iraqis that further instability might face their country ahead of the anniversary of the January 2020 U.S. drone strike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Militia leader and KH founder Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed.<\/p>\n

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\"Iranian<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
FILE – Iranian mourners gather during the final stage of funeral processions for slain top general Qassem Soleimani, in his hometown Kerman, Jan. 7, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe are concerned about the current transition in the world and any mistake in the rules of conflict could lead to escalation. Iraq and the Iraqis want to spend Christmas nights in peace and security as they enter the new year,\u201d Hussein Ali Allawi, a professor of national security at Nahrain University in Baghdad, told VOA via a messaging app.<\/p>\n

Following the U.S. killing of Soleimani and al-Muhandis, the Shi\u2019ite-controlled Iraqi parliament passed a nonbinding resolution that asked for the removal of U.S. troops and other foreign forces. Since then, Iran-backed militias also have occasionally carried out attacks against U.S. diplomatic facilities and military installations in Iraq.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON – This week, two Iran-backed militias in Iraq denied responsibility for a rocket attack Sunday on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The groups are the usual suspects when American interests come under attack in Iraq and it\u2019s rare for them to publicly deny carrying out an attack on a U.S. target. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":91372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latests"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"3.0.2","language":"en","enabled_languages":["fa","en"],"languages":{"fa":{"title":true,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91371"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91375,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91371\/revisions\/91375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}