[ad_1]
Informed sources revealed the details of Iranian Quds Force commander Ismail Qaani’s secret visit to Iraq, which brought a group of orders to militias loyal to Tehran.
Observers believe that Qassem Soleimani’s successor is trying to control the pace of Tehran’s supporters in Iraq during the next stage.
The pro-Iranian militias in Iraq face a very difficult stage, since the assassination of Soleimani, the former commander of the Quds Force, and the deputy head of the Iraqi People’s Mobilization Authority, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, last January. .
A political source familiar with the details of Qaani’s visit told Al-Hurra that the Iranian official met in Baghdad with four militia leaders in Baghdad and asked them to prepare for attacks on US interests in Iraq if Iran was a target of the United States.
The four leaders who sat down with Qaani, according to the source, are Asaib Ahl al-Haqq leader Qais Khazali, Imam Ali Brigade General Secretary Shebel al-Zaidi, Hezbollah Brigade leader Ahmad al- Hamidawi, and the leader of the Nujaba terrorist militia, Akram al-Kaabi are included in the US list.
For its part, a political source within the Popular Mobilization Authority, which includes factions loyal to Tehran, confirmed to Al-Hurra that the aforementioned militias five days ago emptied their headquarters in Baghdad and the rest of Iraq, in anticipation of possible American attacks.
Qaani’s visit to Iraq coincided with the most violent attack in 10 years on Sunday against the US embassy in Baghdad with about 21 Katyusha rockets, but did not result in casualties.
Political researcher and analyst Iyad Al-Anaz said: “The Iraqi political scene remains hostage to regional and international disputes and hostage to pro-militia groups associated with the Iranian regime, who are working to be a vital part in the elaboration of the characteristics of the Iranian political project in Iraq in order to achieve the interests and objectives of Tehran in the totality of its current relationship and provocations. With the United States of America. “
In an interview with Al-Hurra, Al-Anaz said that “the application of the measures taken by the Baghdad government to control the security situation and maintain the land and prevent armed factions from adopting field measures that affect the nature of the existing situation “.
Al-Anaz noted that Qaani’s visit to Baghdad “is an integral part of the Iranian role, and therefore direct events and threats have escalated after the visit.”
He called on the Iraqi government to play a “decisive role”, considering that “the reality on the ground indicates the inability to achieve the desired objectives due to the continued hegemony and Iranian influence and its continued support for the militia.”
In turn, journalist and political analyst Ahmed al-Yasiri said, in an interview with Al-Hurra, that “Qaani’s visit to Iraq came to control the pace of popular factions, since the tempo officer Soleimani was assassinated and the militias today face the risk of breaking the contract that binds them. .
Al-Yasiri considered that “Qaani does not have enough experience in Iraq, since his field and military work is limited to Syria, and his descent to Baghdad is an attempt at internal control after indications about the failure of the militia contract within of Iraq “.
He noted that “there is a temporary ban on targeting US missions and interests in Iraq, until Biden takes office, as Iranians fear that the depth of their security will be attacked by the Trump administration, especially after the assassination of nuclear scientist Fakhri Zadeh. “, adding that” Tehran is striving to try. ” Control the objective of diplomatic missions to Washington.
Al-Yasiri said that “there is a double message that Tehran intends to deliver to Baghdad and Washington, that the security of Iraq is in our hands, and the second is its intention to control the militias and calm things down.”
Qaani’s moves come in light of tense relations between the United States and Iran, coupled with the continued attack on American interests in Iraq by militias loyal to Tehran.
The U.S. embassy and other foreign military and diplomatic sites have been targeted by dozens of rockets and explosive devices since fall 2019.
Western and Iraqi officials blamed militant groups, including the pro-Iranian “Hezbollah Brigades”.
Groups that US and Iraqi officials consider a front of known armed factions allied with Iran have claimed responsibility for the attacks.
A US official revealed to Reuters on Wednesday that “senior national security officials met at the White House and agreed on a set of proposed options to deter any attack on US military personnel or diplomats in Iraq.”
The “Axios” website stated that the United States is considering closing its embassy in Baghdad quickly following a series of missile attacks in the Green Zone in Iraq by Iranian-backed factions, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
He noted that in the event of the closure of the US embassy in Baghdad, the US ambassador to Iraq, Matthew Toller, will be transferred to the city of Erbil in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, or to the air base of Al-Assad in western Iraq.
On Monday, a US nuclear submarine sailed into the Strait of Hormuz in a new show of force against Iran as the anniversary of the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by a US drone in Iraq approaches.
The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier has been in Gulf waters since late November, and two US B-52 bombers have recently flown in the region in a show of force directed against Iran and its allies.
