Iran-Backed Iraq Militia Withdraws After U.S. Embassy Attack
The rare direct U.S. assault on the militia and the attack on the embassy threatened to spiral into a broader confrontation.
(Bloomberg) -- An Iran-backed Iraqi militia broke up its encampment outside the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, a move that could ease tensions between Tehran and Washington that escalated after fighters attacked the compound.
The Popular Mobilization Units had called on the fighters and their supporters to leave the area Wednesday, “out of respect for the decision of the Iraqi government that ordered this and to preserve the stature of the state.” The last protesters were gone by late afternoon and moved their tent camp across the Tigris river to an area facing the embassy, militia members reported.
The PMU is the umbrella group to which the Kataieb Hezbollah paramilitary unit belongs. The assault on the embassy Tuesday was precipitated by deadly U.S. airstrikes against Kataieb Hezbollah bases in Iraq and Syria earlier in the week, and carried out by group fighters and their supporters.
“The message of the protesters has been delivered,” Foreign Affairs Minister Mohamad Alhakim said on Twitter.
Escalation Threatened
The rare direct U.S. assault on the Iran-backed militia and the attack on the embassy threatened to spiral into a broader confrontation. The U.S. and Iran are already facing off over the Trump administration’s crippling economic campaign against Tehran and suspected Iranian reprisals, and additional American forces were ordered to the region after the embassy attack.
Secretary of State Michael Pompeo will delay a scheduled trip to European and central Asian countries including Ukraine to monitor “the ongoing situation in Iraq and ensure the safety and security of Americans in the Middle East,” his spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
Pompeo called Iraq’s outgoing prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, on Wednesday to condemn the attack on the embassy “in the strongest possible terms,” Ortagus said in a second statement.
“Secretary Pompeo noted the measures the government of Iraq has taken to improve the security situation and stressed the government of Iraq’s obligation to prevent further attacks against our diplomatic mission,” she said. “The Secretary affirmed that we want an Iraq that is free, independent, and sovereign, and stressed that the United States, under President Trump, will continue to work toward that end.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has blamed the attack on Iran, which denied involvement. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned that his country was ready to strike back “unhesitatingly” against any retaliation from Washington. The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that Tehran summoned the Swiss charge d’affaires, who represents U.S. interests in Iran, to relay its objections to the American airstrikes.
The U.S. raids were ordered in retaliation for a rocket assault in Iraq that killed an American contractor involved in the U.S.-led fight against Islamic State.
Anti-Government Protests
Iraq has been roiled in recent months by anti-government protests fueled, in part, by Tehran’s powerful influence over the country. U.S. officials had boasted that anti-Iran protests in Iraq signaled a grassroots rebellion against Tehran’s influence, but the attack on the embassy turned Washington into the focus of anger instead.
On Tuesday, Mahdi reiterated his denunciation of the U.S. raids but called on protesters to leave the compound, threatening severe penalties for attacks on the mission.
Although Kataieb Hezbollah responded to Mahdi’s call to change the location of its protests, it warned that “it will not rest until we see the withdrawal of the last foreign soldier from our holy land.” The militia won’t “deviate from defending the sovereignty and dignity of Iraq and its people,” it said in a statement.
Earlier Wednesday, U.S. troops fired tear gas to disperse pro-Iran fighters and their supporters gathered outside the embassy.
--With assistance from Samer Khalil Al-Atrush, Arsalan Shahla and Glen Carey.
To contact the reporter on this story: Amy Teibel in Jerusalem at ateibel@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Alex Wayne, Michael B. Marois
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