Reuters: Iran asked Iraqi militias to attack US forces in Syria and Iraq
Sources said that a prominent leader in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard militia attended a meeting in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, about a week ago, with the aim of coordinating operations to target US forces in Syria and Iraq.
And according to what Reuters quoted three sources from the militias loyal to Iran and two sources in the Iraqi security forces, that the secret meeting in Baghdad last week, was aimed at coordinating strikes on American interests and facilities.
The sources who were briefed on the meeting added, “The Iranian side advised the Iraqi militias not to go too far in the escalation file, to avoid a major escalation in the region, despite the former’s encouragement of the militias to take revenge.”
The agency quoted one of the sources, a senior commander in a local militia who was briefed on the details of the meeting, as saying: “The Iranian side called on them to expand the scope of attacks against the areas of the American presence in Syria.”
The agency said: “The head of the intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards met with leaders of a number of Iraqi militias during a visit to Iraq, in which he conveyed Khamenei’s message to continue to pressure the American forces in Iraq until they completely withdraw from the region.”
This meeting comes in the wake of the visit of an Iranian delegation headed by Hossein Taeb, head of the intelligence of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, in response to the US attacks against pro-Iranian militias on the Syrian-Iraqi border on June 27.
Attacks targeting American interests and facilities in Syria and Iraq have increased recently, the latest of which was targeting American forces at the “Koniko” and “Al-Omar” bases in the eastern countryside of Deir Ezzor.
