Israel calls on UN Security Council to take action against Iraqi militias
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar has called on the United Nations Security Council to take action against militias launching missiles and drones from Iraqi territory.
Gideon Sa’ar, now Foreign Minister, during a party faction meeting in Jerusalem on Nov. 4, 2024. Photo by Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-ILpes
“These attacks are a blatant violation of the UN Charter and International Law and have potential to further drag the region into a very dangerous escalation while posing a significant threat to international peace and security,” Saar wrote in a letter to the UNSC on Monday night.
“Since the heinous terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel, October 7, 2023, the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq such as Kata’ib Hezbollah, Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, Al Nujaba, Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Ansar Allah al-Awfiya the Badr Brigade and others, have launched towards Israel hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV’s) of the Shahed, Ziad, Arpad types as well as several dozen cruise missiles (Raad 351),” Sa’ar noted.
These militias, said Sa’ar “are subsidiaries of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) which is an Iraqi state-sponsored paramilitary network that operates under the directives of Iran. The Government of Iraq is responsible under international law to prevent the use of its territory as a base for attacks against other nations. Israel calls on the Iraqi Government to fulfill this obligation and to take immediate action to halt and prevent these attacks.”
According to data assembled by the US-based Washington Institute, a Washington-based think tank, militias based in Iraq launched more than 40 attacks on Israel during the first two weeks of October. In comparison, the militias claimed responsibility for 35 attacks in September.
While most of the missiles and drones launched from Iraq have been intercepted, “on October 3rd, two explosive-laden UAVs were launched from Iraq, one of which was intercepted by air defenses and the second impacted an army base in the north of Israel, resulting in the death of two soldiers while wounding 24 others.”
After the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iranian proxies in Iraq and Yemen have launched thousands of rockets and drones.
Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, Iraq and Syria on October 26 in response to Iran’s Oct. 1 barrage of missiles and drones.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 97 remaining hostages, more than 30 have been declared dead. Hamas has also been holding captive two Israeli civilians since 2014 and 2015, and the bodies of two soldiers killed in 2014.
