Why did the attacks of the Iraqi armed factions against Israel stop?

The attacks by the Iranian-backed Iraqi armed factions against Israel have stopped for more than a month, raising the question of whether the decision to stop was strategic or whether external pressures forced them to stop based on national interests.

Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper quoted Yasser Watout, a member of the Security and Defense Committee in the Iraqi parliament, as saying, “The cessation of operations by the Iraqi armed factions against the occupied Palestinian territories for more than a month is due to pressure on the factions from the Iraqi government and Shiite political parties in the Coordination Framework Alliance.”

He added, "Iraq was exposed to threats from external parties," considering that the pressure exerted by the government and the Shiite political parties came to "keep Iraq away from the circle of conflict that could expand and include it."

Watout said that Iraq received "threats from Israel and even from the United States of America due to the factions' operations against the entity, and these threats were also a major reason for stopping the operations."

The member of the Iraqi parliament's Security and Defense Committee added that "the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria was a major factor in the decision to halt operations" as the factions were no longer able to carry out attacks from within Syrian territory as they had done previously: "After the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, it became a real difficulty for the armed factions to carry out any strikes against Israel, as they were using Syrian territory to strike Israel and we believe that this matter has stopped permanently and not temporarily after all the changes in the region."

Last attack a month ago

The last attack by the Iraqi factions against the Zionist entity was carried out on November 24 with drones, targeting occupation sites in the south of the occupied Palestinian territories, days before the ceasefire between the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Israeli occupation entered into force on November 27.

For his part, Aid Al-Hilali, a close associate of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani and a member of the ruling Coordination Framework coalition in Iraq, told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “regional and international powers such as Iran and the United States, which seek to avoid escalating the situation in the region, have put pressure on Iraq and the armed factions to stop military operations.”

He pointed out that "security threats are another reason, as the factions were exposed to threats from the Zionist entity to expose Iraq to a wide aggression," noting that "it is possible that the factions have adopted a new strategy that includes calming down at the present time to rearrange their situation. It can be said that several factors led to the temporary halt of these operations, including political and security pressures from the concerned parties."

In turn, Iraqi political researcher Mujasha’ Al-Tamimi said in an interview with “Al-Araby Al-Jadeed” that “the cessation of these military operations against Israel and American interests is due to the direct bombing and serious threats to strike the headquarters of the Iraqi factions.”

Al-Tamimi said: “We expect that the factions’ operations against Israel and even American interests in the near or distant future will not return again, due to the pressures exerted on those factions by internal political and governmental parties,” pointing to “explicit and major threats that have reached the factions from Israel and Washington, especially since Trump’s dealings with those factions will be completely different from Biden’s.”

Operations linked to Hezbollah

However, the spokesman for the Iraqi group "Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada", Kazem al-Fartousi, said in a brief interview with "Al-Araby Al-Jadeed" that "the Iraqi factions have not and will not abandon the principle of unity of arenas in confronting the Zionist entity, and the talk that the cessation of operations came as a result of pressures or threats is absolutely incorrect."

Al-Fartousi explained that "the operations of the Iraqi factions were linked to the operations of the Lebanese Hezbollah, and when the ceasefire agreement was reached in Lebanon, the operations of the Iraqi factions stopped with Hezbollah stopping its operations against the Zionist entity. We do not deny that there are reservations and objections to the operations of the factions by some partners in political work and others, and we listen to them, and this is a very natural matter."

Since the beginning of the Israeli war on Gaza, the Iraqi armed factions have carried out dozens of attacks using booby-trapped drones and medium-range missiles, targeting Israeli occupation sites in the occupied Syrian Golan and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Source: Al-Araby Al-Jadeed