Illustrative – Shi’ite militia fighters in al-Fatha, northeast of Baiji, Iraq, October 18, 2015. (Photo: REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani)
Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Yemen are trying to increase their cooperation to threaten Israel, as well as U.S. positions across the Middle East, according to the Lebanese al-Akhbar newspaper.
The recent opening of a branch office in Baghdad by the Yemeni Houthi militia is a “prelude” to increased action against Israel and its backers, which also include moderate Arab states like Saudi Arabia, according to the report.
Saudi Arabia is seen as a major supporter of Israel because it countered the Houthi blockade of Red Sea shipping lanes by enabling goods to pass overland, “via the Emirati ports and then by land to Saudi Arabia and Jordan, then occupied Palestine,” the paper wrote.
Sources from the Iraqi militias also told the newspaper that if the ongoing fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Iran’s main proxy, escalates into an all-out war, the militias could transfer fighters to southern Lebanon to aid Hezbollah.
“The [resistance] axis does not recognize the borders or geography that currently exist,” the source added. “There are certainly strategies for the resistance axis that now require coordination between the Iraqi resistance, the mujahideen brothers, and the army in Yemen against sensitive targets inside the Zionist entity [Israel].”
Yemeni sources confirmed to al-Akhbar that “there is a joint operations room between the resistance axis, especially the Yemeni forces, the Iraqi resistance, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and coordination is taking place at a high level.”
The sources also confirmed prior reports of the close cooperation between Hezbollah and the Houthis that began long before the current war.
“An equation of terror and deterrence is being imposed on the entity, in preparation for a major battle with the enemy, which will include the participation of Yemen, Iraq, Hezbollah, and perhaps other parties on the Syrian side,” sources added.
“The role played by the party in northern occupied Palestine [meaning Israel] is preparing for an open ground invasion of the entity as planned, led by Hezbollah.”
The Iraqi militias and the Houthis have both taken an active role in the fighting against Israel since last October, mainly by sporadically shooting drones and missiles at Israel.
While most of the Iraqi claims of launches at Haifa either never materialized, or the projectiles didn’t reach Israel, the Houthi rebels have managed to attack the southern Israeli city of Eilat on several occasions, even after striking an IDF navy building on one occasion.
In recent months, Israeli media outlets have noted the possibility that Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, with tens of thousands of fighters available, could join a potential showdown between Hezbollah and Israel by using the Iranian-controlled smuggling routes through Iraq and Syria to reach the Israeli border.
A recent report also suggested that the political leadership of the terror organization Hamas has decided to move its headquarters from Qatar to the Iraqi capital, indicating a possible strategic move by the Iranian regime to coordinate the activities of its proxy forces from Baghdad.
