Iraq rejects Israeli Premier Netanyahu's threat to target ‘militias’ on its soil

By Laith Al-Jnaidi and Mohammad Sio

BAGHDAD / ISTANBUL (AA) - Iraq rejected remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatening to target what he called “militias” in Iraq, Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said Friday.

Speaking at a press conference in New York, Hussein said Netanyahu’s comments in his address to the 80th UN General Assembly were “unacceptable,” according to Iraq’s state news agency INA.

“An attack on any Iraqi is an attack on Iraq,” Hussein said.

In his speech to the UN General Assembly, Netanyahu claimed that Israel “deterred Iran's Shiite militias in Iraq; they're still deterred, and their leaders, if they attack Israel, will also be gone.” He gave no further details.

Netanyahu spoke to a largely empty hall after many delegations walked out in protest of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, now nearing its third year.

On Sept. 17, the US designated four Iraq- and Syria-based groups as terrorist organizations, calling them Iran-aligned militias: Harakat al-Nujaba, Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Harakat Ansar Allah al-Awfiya, and Kataib Imam Ali. Analysts described the move as part of Washington’s “maximum pressure” policy against Tehran.