Iraq: Kataib Hizballah threatens America, vows to widen conflict if US strikes continue

Iran’s proxy war with America and Israel is escalating, as Iraq’s Hizballah Kataib threatens to widen the conflict.

Iranian proxies in Iraq launched a ballistic missile strike on US troops on Tuesday, provoking a response, and then Kataib Hizballah threatened more.

In an update on the Lebanese front, similar jihadist aggression is taking place:

Dozens of rockets were fired toward northern Israel from Lebanon on Thursday morning, with the IDF responding by striking Hezbollah rocket and anti-tank missile launchers in southern Lebanon.

The Iraq jihadist group Kataib Hizballah seeks to establish Iran’s interests throughout the Middle East. Its primary mission is to expel US and coalition forces from the country.

A jihad war is being waged against America and the West (the “Great Satan,” as Iran calls it), as it is against Israel. Israel and its citizens are more immediately vulnerable, as Israel is a tiny nation, surrounded by enemies.

The report below states: “It was also noteworthy because the previous planned counterattacks by U.S. warplanes had focused on militant weapons caches and training centres in Syria, due to political sensitivities in Iraq.”

Political “sensitivities” are not the priority when an open jihad war is going on. America’s interests in this war align with Israel’s.

“Major Iranian-backed militant group vows to expand conflict if U.S. airstrikes continue,” by Tara Copp and Kareem Chehayeb, CTV News, November 22, 2023:

WASHINGTON – A major Iranian-backed militant group in Iraq warned Wednesday it may strike additional U.S. targets after U.S. warplanes killed multiple militants in response to the first use of short-range ballistic missiles against U.S. forces at Al-Asad Air Base earlier this week.

U.S. fighter jets struck a Kataib Hezbollah operations centre and a Kataib Hezbollah command and control node near Al Anbar and Jurf al Saqr, south of Baghdad, on Tuesday, two defence officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide additional sensitive details of the attacks.

There were Kataib Hezbollah personnel at both sites at the time of the strikes, but the officials said they could not yet confirm whether anyone there was killed.

Militia officials in Iraq said the attack had killed eight Kataib Hezbollah members.

The U.S. airstrikes followed an initial retaliatory strike by an AC-130 gunship that was in the air when the Iranian-backed militants fired two short-range ballistic missiles at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq late Monday evening. The gunship was able to locate the origin of the missiles, and fired on several militants who had fled in a vehicle, killing several of them.

Kataib Hezbollah in a statement meanwhile said it was considering “expanding the scope of targets” if the U.S. military continues with its strikes, adding that the attack “will not go unpunished”.

The dangerous back-and-forth strikes have escalated since Iranian-backed militant groups under the umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq and Syria began striking U.S. facilities Oct. 17, the date that a blast at a hospital in Gaza killed hundreds. The attacks have continued unabated since, with at least 66 rocket and missile attacks hitting U.S. facilities and wounding at least 62 service members.

The Monday attack stood out in that it was the first time militants had used ballistic missiles, and the U.S. response inside Iraq was immediate.

It was also noteworthy because the previous planned counterattacks by U.S. warplanes had focused on militant weapons caches and training centres in Syria, due to political sensitivities in Iraq….