Mohammed Shia Sudani said Israel was using “weak pretexts” as an excuse to attack Iraq [Getty]
Iraq is continuing high-level diplomatic efforts to prevent an Israeli attack on the country, an official from the Iraqi Foreign Ministry told The New Arab’s Arabic-language sister site Al-Araby Al Jadeed on condition of anonymity on Monday.
The official said communications were underway with five western countries and one Arab state with close ties to Israel, to prevent any potential Israeli aggression against Iraq.
The flurry of activity comes in the wake of Israel’s complaint at the United Nations Security Council last week, in which Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar called for “decisive action” against Iran-backed militias in Iraq who have launched rocket attacks on Israel.
Iraq however rejected the charge that its territory had been used to launch the strikes and accused Tel Aviv of manufacturing a pretext to attack Iraq.
As well as aiming to prevent any potential Israeli strikes on Iraqi territory, Iraqi officials are warning of the disastrous ramifications such a development would mean for regional stability.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and several of his aides are leading the diplomatic efforts under the supervision of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani.
At the same time, bases, weapons depots and lodgings belonging to Iraqi armed factions in various regions of the country are being evacuated and relocated as a precaution against potential attacks.
The official highlighted that the US, Britain and France were among countries opposed to any Israeli aggression against Iraq.
However, they were also pressuring Iraq to put an end to drone attacks by Iran-linked factions on Israel.
The Iraqi government denies that its territory has been used to launch strikes on Israel, the official said, and asserts that these attacks come from Syrian territory.
However, Western countries say the factions involved are Iraqi and had bases inside Iraq and were urging Iraq to take stronger action to prevent them launching the attacks – whether from Syria or Iraq.
The official added that Iraq had called on the support of “an Arab state with close ties to Israel” in order to prevent an attack, warning that if an Israeli strike took place, matters could slide out of control and lead to an expansion of the war across the region.
On Sunday evening, Sudani spoke at the Iraqi foreign ministry in Baghdad, where he said: “The Zionist entity has threatened Iraq, using weak pretexts which reveal its aggressive intentions, which has made it necessary that we reaffirm Iraq must not be a launchpad for any attacks”.
On the same day, the Iraqi foreign ministry issued a press release stating that Sunday’s Arab League Council meeting in Cairo had issued a “decision denouncing the attempts of the Zionist entity to expand its aggressive actions in the region, including against Iraq”.
Sami Al-Jizani, a prominent member of Iraq’s Hikma Movement, said “the Palestinian cause and the Lebanese cause will remain of concern to Iraq” and dismissed the notion that Iraqi factions would halt their support for the resistance movements.
Meanwhile, Sabhan Mula Chiyad, a political advisor to the Iraqi government, said there was no evidence of armed factions launching attacks from Iraqi territory towards Israel.
In a recent statement to reporters in Baghdad, he said Israel had “been announcing for some time that operations against it are originating from the east, which includes both Syria and Jordan, not just Iraq”.
He said Israel was “seeking any excuse to carry out aggressive strikes on Iraq in order to expand the scope of the war in the Middle East, which it has been aiming to do from the beginning.”
This article is based on an article which appeared in our Arabic edition by Mohammed Ali on 25 November 2024. To read the original article click here.
