Iraqi militia leader announces 'Iraqi Resistance Front' to drive US out of Iraq
Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq militia, on Thursday announced the creation of an "Iraqi Resistance Front" with the purpose of driving American forces out of Iraq.
In a statement released on Twitter, Khazali said that the new grouping would not change the leadership of the different organisations involved, however. He did not specify which organisations would fall under the new banner.
"We find ourselves forced to carry out our duty of putting an end to the American occupation of Iraq,," he said.
"The challenge is big...and the limitation of the capabilities of official agencies in confronting the American arrogance has forced the resistance fighters to think of creating an Iraqi Resistance Front to take it upon themselves to carry out this duty.
"The objective is not to dissolve resistance factions within it under one title, but each faction will keep its leadership...the objective is to find a higher level of coordination in order to end the foreign occupation in all fields."
His comments come hours after a number of rockets struck the Green Zone in Baghdad, the fortified area which houses the US embassy, the Iraqi parliament and other official buildings. No-one was injured.
There have many such attacks over the past year in Iraq, though there are rarely claims of responsibility
Khazali said that the Iraqi Resistance Front was not responsible for the attack last night, adding that when they finally acted the response would be "nothing less" than the scale of the missiles launched by Iran at Iraqi bases on Wednesday morning.
"The US embassy being targeted by two rocket is not the work of the Iraqi Resistance Front and it is likely that the attack took place under the supervision of American intelligence…to cause confusion," he said.
Khazali has previously promised that there would be an "Iraqi response" to the killings of Iranian Quds Force leader Qassem Suleimani and Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Mohandis, who were killed by a US air strike last week.
"Hour zero has not yet started for our revenge operations for commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis," said Khazali.
"We have said our response will not be lesser than the Iranian response to commander Qassem Solaimani’s assassination."
He added that his group does not target foreign missions, only military targets.