Jan. 31 (UPI) — The largest Iran-backed militia in Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah, unexpectedly said it will cease its attacks on the U.S. military in retaliation for the war in Gaza out of respect to the Iraqi government.
The suspension of military and security operations — three days after three U.S. troops were killed in a drone strike that Washington says Kataib Hezbollah likely carried out — was to avoid “embarrassing” the government in Baghdad, the group said in a statement Tuesday.
“We will continue to defend our people in Gaza in other ways, and we recommend to the brave Mujahideen of the Free Hezbollah Brigades to [carry out] passive defense (temporarily) if any hostile American action occurs towards them.”
The offer was met, however, with skepticism by the Pentagon saying it would judge Kataib Hezbollah by what it did rather than what it said.
“Actions speak louder than words,” Defense Department Press Secretary Patrick Ryder told reporters.
As the United States weighs the timing of its armed response to Sunday’s attack in which dozens of soldiers were also injured, Iran ramped up its rhetoric threatening to retaliate against any action targeted against its interests.
Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander Hossein Salami said Wednesday that no U.S. action would go unchallenged, but qualified his remarks by saying Iran was not seeking conflict.
“We will not let any threat remain unanswered. We are not looking for a war, but are not afraid of war either. This is the fact that prevails in our society,” Salami told a conference in Tehran.
Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, issued a similar warning, saying Iran would respond decisively to any attacks it faced, stating that was the fundamental policy of the government in the face of threats, state-run news agency IRNA said.
He also rejected reports that the United States and Iran had messaged each other through intermediaries in the wake of the Jordan attack.
“Such messages have not been exchanged,” he said.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Tuesday he had decided his response to Sunday’s deadly attack in Jordan but declined to provide details.
Biden said he blamed Iran because they supplied weapons to those who carried out the attack, but was adamant he did not want to trigger a wider conflict in the region.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. response might be “multileveled” and “come in stages” that would be maintained for a period of time.
Kataib Hezbollah’s surprise announcement was also in marked contrast to the saber-rattling by Houthi rebels, who vowed Wednesday to step up their attacks on British and U.S. naval forces in the Red Sea in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
The Yemen-based group said all American and British warships in the Red and Arab seas participating in “aggression against our country” were legitimate self-defense targets and proof of Yemenis’ unwavering “support of Palestine.”
