Iraqi militias may join war on Israel – report

Coded religious messaging is being used by the terrorist groups, says the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Iraqi militias controlled by Iran may soon join the war in support of Hamas by attacking Israel from the north, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank reported this week.

The mouthpiece for the “resistance” (muqawama) groups, Sabereen News, began using “coded religious language to report important developments” six days after the Hamas invasion of Gaza envelope communities on October 7, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy wrote in its latest assessment of the region. Social media accounts linked to allied jihadist groups, such as Kataib Hezbollah, have also begun “similar messaging.”

Anti-Jewish and pro-jihad quotes from the Koran have historically “been used to signal imminent muqawama action,” it said, pointing to one specifically which says, “I saw muallemi (my teacher/mentor) holding the book of Allah and reading its verses. I didn’t interrupt him because he seemed like he had something great to present. Before I left, he said, ‘Wait until tomorrow and the freemen eyes will be happy.’ My teacher is a man who doesn’t lie.”

A new muqawama (resistance) group has also been created, at least online, called “The Operations Support Room for al-Aqsa Flood,” the Institute added.

Al-Aqsa Flood is the name Hamas is using for its current war with Israel.

It took credit Wednesday, along with other militias, for launching three drones against two American air bases in Iraq that caused no casualties, the report said.

This is in line with their masters’ threats to hit the United States if it helps Israel against Hamas. President Joe Biden has backed Israel robustly in both word and deed, sending two aircraft carrier groups to the eastern Mediterranean to try to deter any outside actors from joining the conflict, specifically Iran and its strongest proxy, Hezbollah, which is active in both Lebanon and Syria.

“Many signs indicate that Iraq’s ‘resistance’ militias are in fact preparing for a regional war in which they will support Hamas and Iran,” the Institute warned. “The unified nature of the latest muqawama statements and actions strongly suggests that they have received an orchestrating directive from the IRGC-QF (Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corp – Quds Force), which may be assigning various roles to its proxies and allies in the region.”

One of the report’s authors, Michael Knights, an expert on Iraqi and Iranian security and military affairs, told The Media Line that “It looks increasingly likely that Iran-backed militas in Iraq will take part in anti-Israel military operations out of Syria, as part of a Golan front. This could just be the maintenance of a threat to distract Israeli attention and resources, or it could be activated.”

Israel is prepared to deal with any threat from the north, the IDF has said. Thousands of reservists and perhaps more, have reinforced the regular troops on the border, which has so far seen a handful of attacks by Hezbollah infiltrators and rocket launches. Five Israeli soldiers and one civilian have been killed so far and more have been injured, but the army has so far mainly responded with artillery fire on Hezbollah positions in Lebanon.

Jerusalem has warned Beirut several times in the past year to rein in Hezbollah, which is part of the Lebanese government. After the group boasted in June about weapons they are developing against Israel, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said that Israel would bomb Lebanon “back to the Stone Age” if the terror group set a foot wrong.

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