Iraqi militia warns it will target US forces if Washington backs Israeli war in Lebanon

Threat comes amid fears that fighting on Israel-Lebanon border is at risk of escalating into wider war

Qais Al Khazali, centre, leader of Iran-backed Asa'ib Ahl Al Haq, pictured in October 2021. AP Photo

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A powerful militia leader in Iraq has warned that all US interests in the region, particularly in Iraq, will be targeted if it supports any Israeli military operation against Lebanon.

There are fears of a rapid expansion of the Israel-Gaza war into Lebanon as the conflict, in its ninth month now, is on the brink of spilling across the border.

“Recently, we have noticed leaks indicating that the usurping Israeli entity intends to expand its operations by attacking beloved Lebanon and the mujahideen in Hezbollah,” said Qais Al Khazali, leader of Iran-backed Asa'ib Ahl Al Haq, in a televised speech aired late on Monday.

“These leaks suggest that the United States of America will continue to support this entity,” Mr Al Khazali added, warning that if the US continues its support of Israel “then American should know that it will put all its interests in the region, particularly in Iraq, at risk and make them a target”.

Although Asa'ib Ahl Al Haq is part of what is known as the Axis of Resistance – a coalition of Iran-allied groups across the Middle East – it has not participated in recent attacks against US troops and Israel. Those attacks have been claimed through an umbrella organisation known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which includes another powerful Iran-backed militia, Kataib Hezbollah.

Both militias have in the past co-ordinated with Lebanese Hezbollah.

The Iraqi groups and others in Syria and Yemen have been orchestrating attacks against Israel since October 7. Iraqi militias initially targeted US troops in Iraq and Syria before an “unannounced truce” was reached.

The Hamas-led October 7 attack killed about 1,200 people, while more than 37,500 have been killed in Israel's retaliatory bombardment of Gaza.

Last week, Lebanese Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah threatened EU state Cyprus should it allow Israel to operate on its territory in a war against Lebanon.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the phase of intense fighting against Hamas in the Gaza Strip was winding down, but that the war would not end until the group no longer controls the Palestinian enclave.

Once the intense fighting is over in Gaza, Mr Netanyahu said, Israel will be able to send more troops to its northern border with Lebanon, where fighting with Iran-backed Hezbollah has escalated.

Iraq and Iran's foreign ministers discussed this month in Baghdad the “dangerous signs” of Israel possibly attacking Lebanon.

“If there is an attack on southern Lebanon, God forbid, it will affect the whole region,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said during a press conference in Baghdad with visiting Iranian Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani on June 13.

He warned that “expanding the war is not only a danger to Lebanon but to the entire region”.

Mr Bagheri Kani said “the Zionists, due to their failure in Gaza, might make another mistake and expand their aggression”. Both countries called for an immediate ceasefire in the war in Gaza.