Iraq militia threatens to attack UAE if war with Israel breaks out

An Iraqi militia has threatened to strike the United Arab Emirates (UAE) if direct war with Israel breaks out, amid the worsening crisis in Lebanon and the severe weakening of the militia’s ally Hezbollah.

In a post on X, Abu Alaa al-Walaei, the leader of the Iraqi Shia militia Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, stated that “the Islamic resistance in Iraq views the Emirates as the advanced base of the Zionist entity in the Gulf, and the primary target of resistance fire if a full-scale war breaks out”.

He elaborated by warning that the “missiles and drones of the Islamic resistance in Iraq, which have now reached deep into the Zionist entity, could easily strike the alternative locations of the usurping entity in the region.”

pic.twitter.com/NNJ9CcCql2

— ابو الاء الولائي (@aboalaa_alwalae) September 26, 2024

Al-Walaei’s threat on Thursday came amid Israel’s drastic and radical escalation of its conflict against the Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon throughout the past week, with it culminating in the killing of Hezbollah’s longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah through an Israeli strike on a Beirut suburb.

Although there have been limited strikes against Israel by Iraq’s Shia militias until now, many have vowed to send manpower and forces to Lebanon or its borders to join the skirmishes against the Israeli military, causing widespread concern that the conflict could soon break out into all-out war in the wider region.

READ: Lebanon: Israel’s synchronised mass terror attack