Iranian Proxy Seeks De-Escalation in Wake of Recent US Strikes in Iraq and Syria

After the United States carried out retaliatory strikes across seven locations in Iraq and Syria, Iraqi militia sought de-escalation of tensions in West Asia .

The Iraq-backed militia said that it does not wish to widen regional tensions.

Hussein al-Mosawi, spokesperson for Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the main Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, condemned US airstrikes, clarifying that the group doesn’t wish to escalate tensions. “We donot wish to escalate or widen regional tensions,” said Hussein al-Mosawi in an interview with The Associated Press.

The US “must understand that every action elicits a reaction,” he added. Mosawi said the targeted sites in Iraq were mainly “devoid of fighters and military personnel at the time of the attack.”

The US had launched air strikes across seven locations in Iraq and Syria in response to a drone attack at a US military outpost in Jordan on January 28 which killed three US troops. The United States had blamed the drone strike on the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias. Iran, meanwhile, has attempted to distance itself from the attack, saying that the militias act independently of its direction.

The 85 targets struck in seven locations are in a strategic region where thousands of Iran-backed fighters are deployed to help expand Iran’s influence from Tehran to the Mediterranean coast.