The United States needs to seriously consider any military measure in Iraq to avoid unpredicted retaliatory action by Iraqi groups, an analyst said.
“Any measure against resistance groups or assassination of their commanders could spark off uncontrollable and immeasurable reaction against Americans in Iraq,” Sabah Zanganeh, an expert on Iraqi affairs, told IRNA.
The US has been pulling its troops in Iraq from smaller bases to larger ones and improving its air defense systems, apparently to protect American and allied forces against attacks that it blames on Iraqi militias.
It is gathering its troops in Ain al-Asad and Harir air bases where patriot missile launchers and two other short-range systems are now in place for purportedly boosting protection.
“Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces object to the redeployment because US forces are expected to exit the country based on a parliament resolution, not to move from one base to the other,” Zanganeh said.
Americans, according to the expert, have also requested negotiations with Iraqi leaders, in in an attempt to seek an agreement to retain their troops in that country.
Suspicious Plans
Kataib Hezbollah militia group has said the recent movements indicate suspicious US hostile plans while Iraq is involved in the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.
It said in a statement that American forces are planning an attack on Iraqi security forces, the Hashd al-Shaabi or Islamic resistance groups.
The militia group warned its fighters to prepare for possible attacks from the US, and threatened to retaliate against Americans and any Iraqi helping them.
“We will respond with full force to all their military, security, and economic facilities,” said the statement, New York Times reported.
Zanganeh noted that assassinations and hostile measures are likely to happen in Iraq, but resistance groups have prepared themselves for all possible development.
“America should mull over any military action tens of times and think of its consequences so as to avoid such repercussions,” he said.
Iraq has witnessed a military escalation since the US assassinated Iranian top commander, Major General Qasem Soleimani, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the founder of Kataib Hezbollah, early January in Baghdad.
Iran retaliated by launching missiles at locations hosting American forces in Iraq, causing brain injuries to over 100 troops.
The move also sparked protests against US extraterritorial aggression and aroused anti-American sentiment in Iraq. The Iraqi Parliament passed a resolution afterwards, calling on the government to expel all foreign forces from the country.
More recently, the US blamed Kataib Hezbollah for an attack on an Iraqi base north of Baghdad, which killed two American troops and a British soldier. It responded by launching strikes against five Kataib Hezbollah sites, wounding some militiamen and killing three Iraqi soldiers, two policemen and a civilian, according to the Iraqi military.
