Iraq’s National Wisdom Movement Seeks Calm with Washington after Nujaba’s Threat 

Head of Iraq’s National Wisdom Movement Ammar al-Hakim meets with US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski on Monday. (National Wisdom Movement)
Head of Iraq’s National Wisdom Movement Ammar al-Hakim meets with US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski on Monday. (National Wisdom Movement)
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Iraq’s National Wisdom Movement Seeks Calm with Washington after Nujaba’s Threat 

Head of Iraq’s National Wisdom Movement Ammar al-Hakim meets with US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski on Monday. (National Wisdom Movement)
Head of Iraq’s National Wisdom Movement Ammar al-Hakim meets with US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski on Monday. (National Wisdom Movement)

Head of Iraq’s National Wisdom Movement and one of the most prominent members of the pro-Iran Coordination Framework, Ammar al-Hakim condemned on Monday “attempts to destabilize the country through resorting to the use of arms.”

He made his remarks during a meeting with US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski a day after Secretary-General of the Iran-aligned Nujaba movement Akram al-Kaabi warned Washington that the suspension of attacks against American troops was the “calm before the storm.”

The Nujaba had recently declared that it was suspending attacks against the US forces deployed in Iraq. In January, a US strike in Baghdad killed Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, a leading member of the Nujaba who was involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel in Iraq and Syria.

In a statement after meeting Romanowski, Hakim underscored his support for the “security agencies that are carrying out their duties in pursuing the sides responsible for these rejected criminal acts.”

He said he welcomed the resumption of the second round of bilateral negotiations between Baghdad and the US to end the mission of the international coalition fighting the ISIS terrorist group.

He renewed his support to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's government in running the negotiations with the US-Iraq Higher Military Commission.

Hakim also condemned before the ambassador Israel's war on Gaza, urging the need to stop it as soon as possible and delivering humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people.

Kaabi had made light of the negotiations between Baghdad and Washington, saying that while the “Islamic Resistance” does not reject them, “we assert that the American occupier is a liar, treacherous and arrogant.”

He added that it would be “delusional” to believe that the US would “yield and withdraw from Iraq through negotiations.”

He stressed that the current calm “was only a temporary tactic aimed at redeployment and mobilization.”

Furthermore, he alleged that certain sides, which he did not name, “have provided the American forces with information about the resistance and their positions.”



Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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Israeli Troops Battle Palestinian Fighters in Gaza City of Khan Younis

 Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Smoke rises following Israeli strikes during an Israeli military operation, amid Israel-Hamas conflict, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

Israeli troops battled Palestinian fighters in Khan Younis in southern Gaza and destroyed tunnels and other infrastructure, as they sought to suppress small militant units that have continued to hit troops with mortar fire, the military said on Friday.

The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said troops had killed around 100 Palestinian fighters since Israeli troops began their latest operation in Khan Younis on Monday, which continued as pressure mounted for a deal to halt the fighting.

It said seven small units that had been firing mortars at the troops were hit in an air strike, while further south, in Rafah, four fighters were also killed in air strikes.

The Islamic Jihad armed wing said it fired rockets toward the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon and other Israeli towns near Gaza. No casualties were reported, the Israeli ambulance service said.

The continued fighting, more than nine months since the start of Israel's invasion of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attack, underlined the difficulty the IDF has had in eliminating fighters who have reverted to a form of guerrilla warfare in the ruins of the coastal strip.

A Telegram channel operated by the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the two main militant groups in Gaza, said fighters had been waging fierce battles with Israeli troops east of Khan Younis with machine guns, mortars and anti-tank weapons.

Medics said at least six Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes in eastern Khan Younis.

US PRESSURE

US President Joe Biden, and Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for president, both urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a proposed ceasefire deal as soon as possible.

However there has been no clear sign of movement in talks to end the fighting and bring home some 115 Israeli and foreign hostages still being held in Gaza. Public statements from Israel and Hamas appear to indicate that serious differences remain between the two sides.

Local residents contacted by messenger app, said Israeli tanks had pushed into three towns to the east of Khan Younis, Bani Suhaila, Al-Zanna and Al-Karara and blew up several houses in some residential districts.

The military said air force jets hit around 45 targets, including tunnels and two launch pads from which rockets were fired into Beersheba in southern Israel.

Even while the fighting continued around Khan Younis and Rafah in the south, in the northern part of the enclave, Israeli tanks pushed into the Tel Al-Hawa suburb west of Gaza city, residents said.

A Hamas Telegram channel said fighters targeted an Israeli tank in Tal Al-Hawa and shot an Israeli soldier.

Medics said two Palestinians were also killed in an air strike in western Gaza city.

More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed in the fighting in Gaza, according to local health authorities, who do not distinguish between fighters and non-combatants.

Israeli officials estimate that some 14,000 fighters from armed groups including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, have been killed or taken prisoner, out of a force they estimated to number more than 25,000 at the start of the war.