In a propaganda move ostensibly to justify planned jihad attacks against U.S. facilities across Iraq:
Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite militia group that killed an American civilian contractor in December while launching terrorist rocket attacks against Iraqi military bases, issued a statement on Wednesday accusing the U.S. military of using the coronavirus pandemic as cover to attack its own bases. Iran’s Fars news agency uncritically quoted the Kata’ib Hezbollah statement, which included threats to respond with “full force” to any U.S. move by attacking American “military, security, and economic facilities” across Iraq
Although Iran appeared to be scaling back jihad activity because of the coronavirus, the U.S. military rightly suspects that the regime could become even more dangerous.
“Iran-Backed Iraqi Terrorists Claim ‘U.S. Plot to Exploit Coronavirus Pandemic,'” by John Hayward, Breitbart, March 26, 2020:
Iraq’s Kata’ib Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shiite militia group that killed an American civilian contractor in December while launching terrorist rocket attacks against Iraqi military bases, issued a statement on Wednesday accusing the U.S. military of using the coronavirus pandemic as cover to attack its own bases.
Iran’s Fars news agency uncritically quoted the Kata’ib Hezbollah statement, which included threats to respond with “full force” to any U.S. move by attacking American “military, security, and economic facilities” across Iraq:
In the current difficult situation, when Iraq has mobilized all its resources to contain the spread of the coronavirus and the popular forces are busy helping the government in the battle, the PMU has been monitoring “suspicious moves by US forces and their mercenaries,” who intend to exploit the pandemic and advance certain plots in the country, the statement said.
The US plans to conduct heliborne operations backed up by ground troops and fighter jets against positions belonging to security agencies and positions of Iraq’s resistance groups, the statement added.
The statement further said that certain Iraqi military and security forces would participate in the operation.
Kata’ib Hezbollah also warned against the dangerous consequences of such a raid, saying it would worsen the health crisis in Iraq and bring about a humanitarian and social disaster there.
The terrorists vowed bloody revenge against any Iraqis they decide are “collaborating” with the United States.
“The Iraqi side will be treated like an enemy, and its betrayal and crime will never be forgiven … and will be heavily punished according to law,” the group said.
Unsurprisingly, Kata’ib Hezbollah is still upset by the deaths of their deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and Iranian terrorist mastermind Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike the United States conducted to retaliate for the militia’s attacks on American positions and the unsuccessful siege of the U.S. embassy organized by Soleimani.
The Iran-backed militia group denied involvement in several more recent rocket attacks, including one conducted against an Iraqi police and military command center in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone on Thursday. The command center is located only a few hundred yards away from the U.S. Embassy….