Following Saturday’s drone attack on Saudi Arabia, Iraq’s government has issued a statement denying that there was any link to Iraqi soil and the attack, saying its territory had not been used in any way in the attack.
Moreover, the statement vowed to “punish anyone who intended to use Iraq
as a launchpad for attacks in the region.” Some media reports trying to
blame Iran for the attack suggested Iranian backed militias in Iraq may
have been involved.
There is no evidence of any such thing happening, and indeed Iran denied
any involvement in the attack as well. Yemen’s Houthi movement has
claimed credit for the attack, though many anti-Iran hawks are looking
to pin it on them, and that’s likely to mean trying to implicate Iraq as
well.
Efforts to make Iraq an Iranian proxy have been ongoing for months, as
US tensions have risen. Israel has also carried out multiple attacks on
Iraqi soil in recent months on this pretext.
Iraq Denies Its Territory Was Used in Attack on Saudi Arabia
Govt vows not to allow anyone to use Iraq as launchpad for attacks
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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