A leader of the Harakat Hezbollah Al-Nujaba militia in Iraq confirmed that the Iranian-backed militias in the country have agreed to halt their attacks on Israel, the Lebanese Al-Akhbar media outlet reported on Monday.

As YWN reported last week, Iran suffered a major blow when Iranian Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani received a cold shoulder from Iraqi militias on his visit to Baghdad last week, cutting the Islamic Republic off from yet another one of its proxies following the loss of Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Assad regime in Syria.

According to the report, the militias reached an agreement with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani to end their attacks on Israel and also not become involved in the aftermath of the Syrian rebels’ overthrow of the Assad regime.

The Iraqi militia leader told Al-Akhbar that the militias will not interfere in Syrian affairs, and instead will “observe the situation from afar” and will also “wait to learn the views of US President-elect Donald Trump and his policy towards the Middle East, specifically Iran.”

An official Iraqi source revealed to Al-Akhbar that the Iraqi government received requests from international and regional parties to disperse the militias and hand over the weapons of the armed factions to the state.

The militia leader said that the “armed factions agreed to the request of the Iraqi government, especially after what happened in Syria as there may be an intention to drag the country into an even worse scenario than the overthrow of the Assad regime, which could lead to the return of terrorism to Iraq.”

Since the start of the war in Gaza following the October 7 assault, Iranian-backed Iraqi militias fulfilled their role as part of Iran’s Axis of Resistance by launching drones and missiles at Israel. One of their drone attacks in October 2024 killed two IDF soldiers and wounded 24 at an army base in Ramat HaGolan. A drone attack the previous month hit the Ramon Airbase in the Negev and caused extensive damage.

In April 2024, a drone from Iraq hit a Navy hangar in the Gulf of Eilat, creating a large hole. A Navy vessel was docked right near the hangar, including one of Israel’s new Sa’ar 6 warships [worth $500 million] that Israel deployed to the Red Sea in the wake of Houthi attacks on commercial ships.

Iranian-backed militias in Iraq also carried out a drone attack earlier this year that killed three U.S. soldiers in Jordan.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)