‘UNANNOUNCED TRUCE’ HALTS IRAQI MILITIA ATTACKS AGAINST US TROOPS
▶ Pause agreement involves Baghdad and Tehran and was reached after most recent strike on February 4
Iraqi militias backed by Iran have halted their attacks against US forces in the region in the context of an “unannounced truce” that involves the governments in Baghdad and Tehran, sources in Lebanon and Iraq told The National.
Militant groups in Iraq and Syria have been attacking US troops as part of a co-ordinated front since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war in October, demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Palestinian territory run by their ally Hamas.
But the last strike by those militias was on February 4, Pentagon officials said.
Instead, the armed groups that previously vowed to continue striking US troops until the war in Gaza stops, have claimed attacks against Israeli targets that were not confirmed by other sources.
“There is an ongoing unannounced truce,” said a source in Beirut with ties to the Iranbacked militias.
“It’s an arrangement between the armed groups, the Iraqi government and the Iranians. It’s also hard not to imagine the Americans [being] part of it,” the source added.
Iraqi sources, including a militia spokesman and a politician, confirmed to The National that such a truce is in place, having been reached about a month ago.
However, they provided different explanations as to how it came about.
The shift happened after an attack that killed three US soldiers at the Jordanian-Syrian border at the end of January.
Washington attributed the strike to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a group of Iranian proxy militias that includes Kataib Hezbollah. A senior Iranian commander travelled to Baghdad after the strikes and urged militias to immediately reduce tension.
Shortly afterwards, Kataib Hezbollah announced the suspension of its operations against US forces in Syria and Iraq to prevent “any embarrassment” to the Iraqi government.
Other groups vowed to continue their attacks, until the US retaliated to the Jordan attack, first by hitting militia targets in Iraq and Syria, then by launching a missile strike on Baghdad that killed two Kataib Hezbollah leaders. “The last attack against US forces was on February 4, and then all the armed groups became part of the unannounced truce after discussions with the Iraqi government and the Iranians,” said the source in Beirut.
Harakat Al Nujaba, an Iranbacked militia allied with Kataib Hezbollah, confirmed that it was part of the arrangement, despite vowing to retaliate against the US after the strikes in Iraq and Syria.
“This truce falls within the resistance strategies in managing the conflict in Iraq and the region, and it intends to give an opportunity and open the way for the Iraqi government to take over the management of the national dialogue to remove
US drones hovering over Baghdad indicate that American troops are monitoring militia operatives
the American forces,” the group’s spokesman, Hussein Al Musawi, told The National.
“It was reached through many mediations by political groups, religious authorities and community figures.”
The US strikes on militia targets in Iraq pushed the government in Baghdad to respond to long-standing calls for American troops to be withdrawn from the country.
About 2,500 US troops are stationed in Iraq, having been sent there as part of the international coalition against ISIS. On January 27, Baghdad and Washington began talks to end the international coalition’s mission, with Iraq expecting the discussions to result in a timetable being drawn up for the coalition’s presence to be reduced, and bilateral security agreements being signed with its individual member states.
A politician in Baghdad with ties to the militias said the groups “don’t want to embarrass the government amid the negotiations”, and halting attacks was part of that strategy.
“After the attack in Jordan, the Americans paused the talks.
“To avoid any disruptions, the government reached a deal with the resistance factions to stop their attacks against the US troops,” he told The National.
That agreement was reached “in co-operation with Iran and Iran-allied political factions”, he added.
The Iraqi government did not respond to requests for comment.
Other Iraqi sources confirmed that an agreement had been reached between the militias and the government “to cease all hostilities” against US targets in the country, yielding to pressure from Tehran.
However, the sources explained that the “real reason” the attacks were halted was “fear” of further US attacks against militia commanders.
In recent weeks, US drones have been hovering over Baghdad, indicating that American troops are tracking down and monitoring the movements of militia operatives.
US officials credit the retaliatory strikes with disrupting the militias’ ability to co-ordinate and execute attacks.
While the Pentagon has cautiously welcomed the reduction in militia attacks, the US military has stressed it is ready to conduct new strikes against Iran’s proxies if they resume hostilities against its troops in the region.