Iran’s Proxies In Yemen, Iraq Threaten US Over Support For Israel
Two of Iran’s heavily armed proxy groups in the region have threatened to target US interests if Washington intervenes to support Israel in its conflict with Hamas.
Two of Iran’s heavily armed proxy groups in the region have threatened to target US interests if Washington intervenes to support Israel in its conflict with Hamas.
The Houthi Movement in Yemen and a powerful Iraqi militia group both issued identical statements, which can be a sign that Tehran is willing to leverage its loyal proxies to flex its muscle against the United States.
The comments come amid strong support by the United States for Israel's response to the attacks and a US pledge to rapidly provide additional munitions to Israel and deploy a carrier strike group to the Eastern Mediterranean.
In Yemen, the leader of the powerful Houthi Movement warned on Tuesday that the group would respond to any US intervention in Gaza with drones, missiles and other military options.
He said the group was ready to coordinate intervention with other members of the so-called "Axis of Resistance" which encompasses Iranian-backed Shiite Muslim factions in Iraq and Lebanon's Hezbollah group, which has already entered the fray.
The remarks came after the top US general late Monday warned Iran not to get involved in the crisis in Israel and said he did not want the conflict to the broaden, as Lebanese Hezbollah fired rockets onto northern Israel.
The White House earlier on Monday said that Iran was complicit even though the United States has no intelligence or evidence that points to Iran's direct participation in attacks in Israel by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
Asked what his message for Iran was, General Charles Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said: "Not to get involved."
Later on Tuesday, President Joe Biden repeated the warning in an address to the nation. "So, in this moment, we must be crystal clear. We stand with Israel. Let me say again to any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation, I have one word. Don't. Don't!"
In Iraq, Hadi Al-Amiri, a powerful Iraqi politician close to Iran and a key figure in the cross-party alliance backing the Baghdad government, also threatened to target American assets, in comments made during a tribal gathering in the capital.
"If they intervene, we will intervene...If the Americans intervened openly in this conflict..., we will consider all American targets legitimate..., and we will not hesitate to target it," Al-Amiri said on Monday.
He leads the Badr Organization, a Shi’ite political group supported by Iran that comprises a large part of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the state paramilitary organization that contains many Iran-backed factions.
If the US forces intervene in the operation al-Aqsa Storm – the codename for the Hamas attack, “we will target the American bases” as well as Israeli positions, said Abu Hussein al-Hamidawi, the secretary-general of Kataib Hezbollah, a radical Iraqi Shiite paramilitary group and part of the PMF.
The PMF has voiced its "unequivocal support" for the Palestinian factions fighting Israel and the Iraqi government has said the Palestinian operations were a natural outcome of what it calls "oppressive" policies by Israel.
In past years, Iranian-backed militias in Iraq regularly targeted US forces in Iraq and the US embassy in Baghdad with rockets, though such attacks have abated under a truce in place since last year, as Iraq enjoys a period of relative calm.
The United States currently has 2,500 troops in Iraq - and an additional 900 in Syria - on a mission to advise and assist local forces in combating Islamic State, who in 2014 seized swathes of territory in both countries.
In an address to the nation from the White House, he also expressed concerns about the Americans being held hostage by the Iranian-backed Islamist group as well as the death of at least 11 Americans in the multi-thronged invasion on October 7.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, “We believe that there are 20 or more Americans who at this point are missing, but I want to underscore and stress that does not mean necessarily that there are 20 or more American hostages. Just that is the number who are currently unaccounted for."
In his deeply emotional speech, Biden emphasized that the US has Israel’s back, saying, "This is an act of sheer evil.”
"There are moments in this life and I mean this literally when the pure unadulterated evil is unleashed on this world. The people of Israel lived through one such moment this weekend," he stated.
"So in this moment, we must be crystal clear. We stand with Israel. Let me say again to any country, any organization, anyone thinking of taking advantage of this situation, I have one word. Don't. Don't!"
Biden's warning can be seen a reminder to the Iranian regime and its most powerful proxy force, the Lebanese Hezbollah, which again traded fire with Israel on Tuesday, as the fighting in and around Gaza was continuing. Earlier, the Chairman of the US joint chiefs, Gen, Charles Brown warned Iran not to get involved in the conflict.
Biden, who spoke after his third phone call in four days with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, highlighted in his remarks the US military assistance being sent to help Israel in its fight.
Biden also offered an overview of the actions the United States is taking with allies around the world to support Israel.
Biden also offered support for American Jews and said they should be allowed to worship in peace in the United States. Biden said last month that antisemitism in the United States had risen to record levels.
He added that US law enforcement agencies were taking steps to disrupt any domestic threat that may emerge after Hamas' weekend attack. The FBI said earlier it was "closely monitoring unfolding events" but added it "does not have specific and credible intelligence indicating a threat to the United States stemming from the Hamas attacks in Israel."
The United States does not plan to put American military forces on the ground, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters. Israel has called up an unprecedented 300,000 of its own reservists.
Israel's embassy in Washington said the death toll from Hamas' weekend attacks had surpassed 1,000, dwarfing all modern Islamist attacks on the West since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.
Earlier, Israel’s military announced that the country’s border is under control after hours of fighting and airstrikes Tuesday. Brig. Gen. Dan Goldfuss of the 98th Division said the military is now “moving into the offensive … to change the reality within Gaza to prevent such a thing from happening again.”
Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei talked of “betting on the losing horse” in reference to regional countries, Saudi Arabia in particular, thawing relations with Israel mere days before the attack. The Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guards have also been providing money, weapons, military training and intelligence to militarize the Gaza Strip for years.
The regime was also so quick to install banners and billboards and hold street celebrations for the attack, that people started asking questions if they had been prepared for it. Hamas thanks Iran for support, and Iran reassures that they will get more but implies it had nothing to do with the operation.
In Iran, after Khamenei dictates the themes of the regime’s policy vis-a-vis global developments, other officials and clerics as well as his representatives across the country who are Friday Imams of the cities, start to promulgate them. The office of the Supreme Leader also produces media content to make sure other officials know the themes, such as the “losing horse,” that was made into a video clip and has also become a trendy hashtag in cybersphere by the regime’s online soldiers.
In addition to Khamenei and President Ebrahim Raisi other senior politicians have been vocal in adulation of the attack. About three days into the war that started with Hamas killing about a thousand Israelis, injuring several thousands, and taking scores as hostages, firebrand cleric Ahmad Khatami, one of Tehran’s Friday Prayer Imams, talked of the regime’s promise of annihilation of Israel and described the attack as “heroic” on Tuesday. "We send a message to the governments that are moving towards normalizing relations with Israel that this path is a dead-end,” he said.
Hossein Noori Hamedani, a conservative grand ayatollah in Iran, said, "Islamic countries should not think of normalizing relations with a country that cannot protect itself and has a government on the brink of collapse."
Mohammad Sadat, the head of the Islamic Development Coordination Council in Kordestan province, not only congratulated Khamenei for the Hamas attack but also threatened that more extensive attacks on Israel would occur. He added, "This prideful operation was a warning to the hegemonic countries."
Congratulations to Hamas came from Abdolnabi Mousavi-Fard, Khamenei’s man in Khuzestan province, stating that "Hamas has executed brilliant scenes of resistance and steadfastness." He added, "The firing of thousands of rockets and missiles at Israel is a blessing of the presence of Khamenei and the school of Qasem Soleimani." As the commander of IRGC’s Quds extraterritorial force, Soleimani was the architect of Iran’s proxy warfare in the region. He was killed by a US drone attack in 2020.
Even officials known to be critical of the regime, such as reformist heavyweight Mohammad Khatami, have hailed the attack as “a significant achievement for the Palestinian people.”
As the international community continues to denounce the Hamas invasion, Iranian officials are openly encouraging Palestinians to escalate their efforts.
Ali Fadavi, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), described Hamas's attack on Israel as "historic" and stated, "The Islamic Republic has played an effective role in boosting the spirit of resistance and battle." The ‘resistance’ is the term the Islamic Republic regime calls its logistic, financial and intelligence support for the militia groups in the region, several of which were created by Iran.
Mohammad Baqeri, the chairman of the chiefs of staff of the Iranian armed forces, claimed it would not be long before Palestinian youth succeeded in liberating the Al-Aqsa Mosque from what he referred to as "the Zionist enemy." He slammed the ongoing normalization attempts between Israel and Arab nations as a "plot" to prevent the collapse of the Jewish state, saying it “could neither halt nor delay the inevitable decline of Israel".
Iran is not shy about its support for the groups. Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf said on Tuesday, "There is no doubt that we will stand by them in realizing the aspirations of the Palestinian people and taking the necessary measures." Shahriar Heydari, the deputy chairman of the National Security Committee of the Iranian Parliament, told Didbaniran website that "the Islamic Republic provides training to Palestinian fighters, and we assist in military training." He added, "As long as the people and fighters of Palestine need the Islamic Republic, we try to meet those needs."
Iran has supported various regional militant groups over the years including Hamas, which receives around $100 million in aid each year in addition to the provision of weaponry and financial resources for its operations. Naser Kanaani, spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, reiterated claims that the Palestinian group had launched the attack independently, adding that the accusations against Iran were politically motivated.