IRAQ, ISRAEL, PALESTINE, USA, YEMEN

As the US Escalates Attacks, Iraqi Resistance Joins Yemen in Imposing a Naval Blockade Against Israel

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The Cradle

As US jets once more dropped bombs on Iraq and Yemen, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq vowed to put Israeli ports ‘out of commission’ until the siege of Gaza is lifted

The Secretary-General of the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, Abu Ala al-Walaei, announced during the early hours of 24 January the start of phase two of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq’s (IRI) pro-Palestine operations, including enforcing a naval blockade on Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.

“At a time when the criminal US occupation is again blatantly targeting our security forces … we urge the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq to begin the second phase of their operations, which includes enforcing a blockade on Zionist maritime navigation in the Mediterranean Sea and putting the entity’s ports out of service,” Walaei said via social media.

The leader of the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, a faction within the larger Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), stressed that these operations will continue until “the unjust siege on Gaza is lifted and the horrific Zionist massacres against its people are stopped.”

Hours earlier, US warplanes conducted a new round of airstrikes targeting alleged locations of the PMU-affiliated Kataib Hezbollah in Al-Qaim on the Iraqi-Syrian border and in Jurf al-Nasr south of Baghdad.

At least one death was reported following the attack in Al-Qaim.

The spokesman for Kataib Hezbollah, Jaafar al-Husseini, said in response to the attack: “The resistance will continue to destroy enemy strongholds in support of our people in Gaza until the brutal US-backed killing machine stops and the entire siege is lifted.”

Iraq’s National Security Advisor Qassim Al-Araji criticized the US for once again “violating Iraqi sovereignty” by targeting the PMU.

“Attacking the headquarters of the [PMU] in Al-Qaim and Jurf al-Nasr is an assault and a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and does not help [quell tensions],” the official said, stressing that, “Instead of bombing and targeting the headquarters of an Iraqi national institution, the US side should move to stop the aggression against Gaza.”

The Iraqi government has previously demanded that the US army respect the country’s sovereignty and security, as Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani stresses that the PMU is an “integral part” of the country’s armed forces.

As part of the Resistance Axis’ operations in support of the Palestinian people, the IRI – an umbrella group of armed factions that includes members of the PMU – has conducted about 150 attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria over the past several months.

The most recent attack took place on Tuesday morning, with a rocket salvo hitting the US-occupied Conoco oil field in northeast Syria for the second time in three days.

US jets launch new overnight raids in Yemen, Iraq

The Pentagon says the raids were launched in response to ‘escalatory attacks’ by the Iraqi and Yemeni resistance in support of Palestine

The US armed forces conducted a new round of airstrikes inside Yemen and Iraq during the early hours of 24 January, targeting resistance positions as part of Washington’s military actions in support of Israel’s genocide campaign in Gaza.

“On January 24, at approximately 2:30 a.m. (Sanaa time), US Central Command forces launched strikes against two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were targeting the southern Red Sea,” a CENTCOM statement released via social media reads.

US and UK warplanes have been conducting regular airstrikes in Yemen over the past few weeks in response to Sanaa’s attacks on Israeli-linked vessels in the Red Sea.

“We do not care about your raids, and we will not retreat from our position and our struggle for the sake of God and our support for the Palestinian cause … The American-British presence in the Red Sea comes to defend the Zionist entity, not to protect international maritime navigation,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a senior member of the Supreme Political Council of Yemen’s ruling Ansarallah movement, said on Tuesday.

Similarly, Yemeni Prime Minister Abdulaziz bin Saleh Habtoor said during a recent interview with PressTV that the country would not back down despite the US-led attacks, stressing that military actions against Israel will continue until the mass murder of Palestinians in Gaza stops.

“We followed the history of the US, which entered the Vietnam War and was defeated. It entered a war in Korea and was defeated. It entered Iraq and Afghanistan and was also defeated. It imposed a siege on Iran since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in 1979 and failed. We are betting on our people, history, and the future that the United States will fail in every battle it enters,” Habtoor said.

“The western regime fell after the Al Aqsa Flood began. All their slogans, such as morality, human freedom, international humanitarian law, justice, and equality, have fallen,” he added.

In Iraq, US jets targeted alleged locations of the Kataib Hezbollah armed group – a faction within the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) – in Al-Qaim on the Iraqi-Syrian border and in Jurf al-Nasr south of Baghdad.

In a statement Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes in Iraq were directed by President Joe Biden.

“These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias,” Austin said.

The attacks in Iraq came a few days after US troops stationed at Al-Asad Air Base were injured in a ballistic missile and rocket attack launched by the Iraqi resistance.

In response to the continued US airstrikes, the Iraqi resistance announced the start of “phase two” of its operations in support of Palestine, vowing to impose a naval blockade against Israel in the Mediterranean Sea.

‘US determined to harm Iraqi sovereignty:’ Baghdad

US airstrikes on points belonging to the Iraqi army and resistance killed two and injured others

The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on 24 January issued a statement blaming the US for actively working against Baghdad’s sovereignty after an attack on positions held by the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU).

“In a clear determination to harm security and stability in Iraq, the United States is returning to carry out air strikes against the places of Iraqi military units of the army and the PMU, in the areas of Jurf al-Nasr and Al-Qaim,” Yahya Rasool, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, said in a statement on behalf of Sudani. 

He noted that these attacks by the US are going against years of relations building by the Iraqi government and lead to an irresponsible level of escalation as the region is already at risk of a larger war.

“We see [The US] slipping into condemnable and unjustified acts of aggression on Iraqi national territory and sovereignty,” Rasool added. 

Two members of the Iraqi PMU were killed, and three others were injured following a US attack on the Babylon and Anbar provinces. 

These attacks by Washington came in response to a wave of rocket and drone attacks by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, targeting the illegal US base in Syria’s occupied Conoco oilfield, and the Ain al-Assad base in Iraq, as well as another operation against the Israeli port of Ashdod. 

“At a time when the criminal US occupation is again blatantly targeting our security forces … we urge the Mujahideen of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq to begin the second phase of their operations, which includes enforcing a blockade on Zionist maritime navigation in the Mediterranean Sea and putting the entity’s ports out of service,” Secretary-General of the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, Abu Ala al-Walaei said in a social media post. 

Walaei added that the operations being carried out by the Iraqi resistance will not cease their operations until “the unjust siege on Gaza is lifted and the horrific Zionist massacres against its people are stopped.”