At Meeting In Tehran, Head Of Iraqi Hizbullah Brigades Declares Suspension Of Attacks On U.S. Forces Not End Of 'Long-Term Battle'; Arab Daily: No Intention To Resume Attacks In Near Future

On March 19, 2024, Iraq's Hizbullah Brigades issued a brief statement reporting that the group's leader met in the Iranian capital, Tehran, with leaders of other Iran-backed groups, where he emphasized his group's commitment to defending Gaza and declared that the current suspension of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria does not mean the end of the "long-term battle" against them.[1]

Head Of Iraq's Hizbullah Brigades: Iraqis Must Actively Support Gaza, Suspension Of Attacks On U.S. Forces Is Not The End

The statement noted that Hizbullah Brigades Secretary-General Abu Hussein Al-Hamidawi met with "leaders of the Axis of Resistance from inside Iraq and abroad" in Tehran, where he stressed the following points:

"The Islamic Resistance's efforts are applied to defending the oppressed nations and protecting the achievements of the ummah [Islamic nation]. It takes timing into consideration, interacts with the main challenges, and manages its decisions with wisdom and deliberation, as it knows their ramifications best and will not allow the politicized and weak to interfere in their rationales.

"The suspension of military operations is not the end of the matter, and the resistance can rely on its own capabilities to manage a long-term battle.

"The function of Iraq's people in the battle must be to support Gaza actively and in a special way, in keeping with what our ancestors have done to the Jews throughout history.

"The victory of the liberation movements conforms with the interests of the anti-imperialist powers, especially in West Asia and North Africa."

Iraqi MP: Iran-Backed Factions Do Not Intend To Resume Attacks On U.S. Forces

An anonymous member of the Iraqi parliament from the Coordination Framework, which is comprised of Shi'ite political parties belonging to the Iraqi government, told the London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed daily that the meeting in Tehran was a "routine meeting" to "assess the overall situation," and that it focused on the possibility of resuming operations against U.S. forces, concluding that "the factions have no intention of ending the ceasefire with Washington in the near future. The MP added that the militias previously reassured Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' Al-Sudani that they will abide by the ceasefire until U.S. forces withdraw from Iraq.[2]

After killing U.S. soldiers in a drone attack on a Jordanian base near the Syrian border at the end of January, Iraq's Iran-backed militias suspended their operations following retaliatory U.S. airstrikes on their positions in Iraq and Syria.[3]