Iraq Prepares To End Presence Of US Forces After Attacks

For months, Syria’s southern neighbor has been warning criminal groups that smuggle large quantities of drugs across it borders destined for other countries in the region.

The infiltrators have increasingly become more brazen by engaging the Jordanian military and using drones carrying drugs across the border.

Sources told Reuters that jets bombed the suspected home of a leading drug dealer in the town of Shaab in Sweida province while the other strike hit warehouses near the village of Al-Ghariya.Both locations are in the province of Sweida near the Jordanian border.

Jordanian officials, like their Western allies, say that Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah group and other pro-Iranian militias who control much of southern Syria were behind a surge in drug and weapons smuggling.

UN experts and US and European officials say the illicit drug trade finances a proliferation of pro-Iranian militias and pro-government paramilitary forces created by more than a decade of conflict in Syria.

Iran and Hezbollah say the allegations are part of Western plots against the country. Syria denies complicity with Iranian-backed militias linked to its army and security forces.

Jordan has been promised more US military aid to improve security on the border, where Washington has given around $1 billion to establish border posts since the Syrian conflict began in 2011, Jordanian officials say.

With reporting by Reuters

Reuters received information from police and security sources, but no further details were provided regarding the party responsible for the attack.

Field sources have indicated that a high-ranking commander of the Iran-backed armed group Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba (HHN), along with his assistant, was killed in the attack.

However, social media reports suggest that the targeted facility was Hashd al-Shaabi's logistics base in Baghdad and that US drones carried out the strike.

If so, it would be a rare retaliation for over 100 attacks since the Gaza war broke out in October, Iran's proxies targeting US facilities in Iraq and Syria, and now the Red Sea shipping route, in retaliation for US support of Israel's right to defend itself.

While Iran has not directly engaged in the conflict, it has utilized its network of armed groups to target both Israel and US forces in the region. Iran, a staunch supporter of Hamas, has issued threats to the United States, warning that if the attacks on Gaza persist, they may impact US interests.

“Let our message now be clear: we call for the immediate end of these illegal attacks and release of unlawfully detained vessels and crews,” the statement said.

Immediately after the White House issued the joint statement, the US Central Command posted the following excerpt on X. “The Houthis will bear the responsibility of the consequences should they continue to threaten lives, the global economy, and free flow of commerce in the region’s critical waterways.” 

After Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei called for a trade blockade with Israel in November, Tehran's proxy allies, the Houthi movement in Yemen, started launching missiles and drones at vessels in international waters around the Red Sea.

The attacks escalated in recent weeks, leading 44 nations to form a naval coalition to ensure maritime security in the region.

However, the United States has chosen not to retaliate on Yemeni soil while defending against the Houthi attacks by intercepting incoming projectiles and deterring boats that pose threats to ships.

Wednesday’s joint statement appears to be a warning of impending retaliation if the attacks continue.

Al-Arouri, serving as Hamas's deputy leader abroad, was targeted in an alleged Israeli strike in Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut on Tuesday, part of the Jewish state's mission to destroy the UK designated terror group after the October 7 invasion.

The IRGC's statement claimed that attempts to “rectify the defeat on [October 7] through acts of assassination and crime are futile. The Zionist regime, currently facing challenges, is deemed incapable of distorting the resistance's strategic calculations through such actions,” disregarding the fact that since the attacks, Gaza has been devastated by Israel's relentless retaliation and dozens of its top commanders assassinated.

Naser Kanaani, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman, also condemned Israel's "despicable" actions, labeling them as killings that will serve to further motivate the region to resist Israel. Despite the condemnation, Iranian government websites provided minimal coverage of the event on Wednesday as the regime marked the fourth anniversary of the death of former IRGC Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani, killed in a US drone strike on January 3, 2020.

Al-Arouri, a founding member of Hamas's military wing, had overseen the group's operations in the West Bank and spent nearly 18 years in Israeli prisons since the early 1990s. Residing in Lebanon since 2018, he was known for his close ties to both Hezbollah and Iran. His West Bank home was also flattened in the wake of the October 7 attacks.

Since the October 7 invasion led by Iran-backed Hamas into Israel, resulting in the loss of 1,200 lives, predominantly civilians, and the abduction of over 240 more, Iran's proxies have been activated across the region.

Attacks on both Israel and US facilities across the region have intensified, Iranian proxies in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, and Syria claiming to stand in support of Hamas, culminating in the worst crisis witnessed in recent years.

Iran's Yemeni proxy, the Houthis, have implemented a blockade of the Red Sea and surrounding area, leading to a more than 20-nation coalition being formed by the US to counter the threat to global trade routes.

Beheshti, known for his recent hunger strike in London in a bid to pressure the UK government to designate Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, said direct action is "the only language they understand”.

“Help us overthrow the government. Try to imagine what the Middle East would look like without the Iranian government,” he urged.

Speaking before the Israel Victory Caucus, which consists of Knesset members, security experts, and political leaders, Beheshti highlighted the pressing challenge to regional security posed by Iran, which last month was exposed for rapidly progressing its enrichment in the race towards nuclear weapons.

Since October 7 when Iran-backed Hamas invaded Israel, killing 1,200 mostly civilians and taking 240 or more hostage, attacks on both Israel and US facilities in the region have spiked. Iranian proxies in Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria have been activated triggering the worst crisis in recent years.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his calls this week to ensure Iran does not achieve nuclear capabilities while the country continues to fight Hamas in Gaza. Israeli strikes on Iranian linked facilities in the region also continue alongside the war against Hamas, including an alleged assassination of the regime's most senior military figure in Syria.

Beheshti said the Iranian government is at its weakest in 44 years in the wake of the 2022 uprising which has seen the strongest resistance to the government since the foundation of the Islamic Republic in 1979.

He urged Israel to recognize the potential support from approximately 80 million Iranians yearning for freedom and democracy.