An influential Iraqi armed group on Saturday evening judged as “ridiculous” recent sanctions imposed by the United States against it and another pro-Iranian movement accused of being responsible for attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria.
The Hezbollah Brigades also stated that these attacks by the Islamic Resistance of Iraq were part of a “strategy of attrition,” according to a statement by its spokesman Abu Ali al-Askari published on his Telegram account.
Washington on Friday imposed sanctions on seven people linked to two pro-Iran Iraqi armed groups, the Hezbollah Brigades and the Sayyed al-Shuhada Brigades.
The US Treasury Department asserted that the Hezbollah Brigades were “trained, funded and supported” by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and were “behind a recent wave of attacks against the US and its partners in Iraq and Syria.” after the terrible attacks by Hamas on Israel.”
“The inclusion of certain brothers on the so-called “American sanctions list” is ridiculous,” said Abu Ali al-Askari, believing that “such actions will not deter our brave fighters.”
The number of attacks on American forces and the international anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq and Syria has skyrocketed since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, which was sparked by the movement’s unprecedented attack on Israeli soil on October 7. Palestinian Islamist.
According to the Pentagon, American forces stationed in Iraq and Syria have been attacked more than 55 times since mid-October, leaving dozens of American personnel slightly injured.
Most of these missile or drone attacks were claimed by a group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
“The calculated attacks of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (…) are carried out according to a strategy of attrition of the enemy, choosing the level of escalation of operations, their trajectory and their planning,” assures Abou Ali al-Askari.
The United States has around 2,500 troops stationed in Iraq and 900 in Syria to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group.
The Hezbollah Brigades, or Kataëb Hezbollah, has been classified as a “terrorist organization” by the US State Department since 200