Iraq Seeks to Purchase Russian Weapons

Boys wave towards a convoy of US vehicles withdrawing from northern Syria, in Erbil, Iraq October 21, 2019. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
Boys wave towards a convoy of US vehicles withdrawing from northern Syria, in Erbil, Iraq October 21, 2019. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
TT

Iraq Seeks to Purchase Russian Weapons

Boys wave towards a convoy of US vehicles withdrawing from northern Syria, in Erbil, Iraq October 21, 2019. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari
Boys wave towards a convoy of US vehicles withdrawing from northern Syria, in Erbil, Iraq October 21, 2019. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

Moscow has said it was willing to meet Iraq’s needs for weapons amid an ongoing debate in the country on the post-Trump phase.

Speaking at a joint news conference with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein in Moscow on Wednesday, his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov said: "We are ready to provide Iraq with any Russian-made military products."

Lavrov stated that the Russian-Iraqi ties don’t rule out being on good terms with the West and neighboring countries.

He deemed the visit of Hussein as a boost to bilateral ties and the region’s security.

Iraqi parties, as well as militias, are engaged in a debate on the way to deal with the delicate transitional phase until President-elect Joe Biden enters the White House in January, and the possibility of US President Donald Trump launching a strike on Iran and its arms in Iraq.

Last week, several missiles hit near the US embassy in the Green Zone and caused division among Iran-backed militias.

In the meantime, Iranian Quds Force commander Esmail Ghaani made a secret visit to Baghdad to limit tension and avoid a US retaliation.

Prominent pro-Iran militias such as Kataib Hezbollah and Asaib Ahl al-Haq slammed the party that struck the Green Zone last week, and didn’t claim responsibility for the attack.

Kataib Hezbollah spokesman Mohammed Mohi said some parties are trying to grant the US an excuse to attack.

The US shouldn’t be given any opportunity to tamper with the security again, Mohi warned.

MP Muhammad Karim accused the US of lacking seriousness in the recent decision to withdraw from Iraq. He further accused it of forging facts.



Israel, Hezbollah Fire Exchange Kills 3 Fighters, Injures 11 in Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights

 Israeli security forces and medics transport casualties from a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli security forces and medics transport casualties from a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
TT

Israel, Hezbollah Fire Exchange Kills 3 Fighters, Injures 11 in Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights

 Israeli security forces and medics transport casualties from a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 27, 2024. (AFP)
Israeli security forces and medics transport casualties from a site where a reported strike from Lebanon fell in Majdal Shams village in the Israeli-annexed Golan area on July 27, 2024. (AFP)

Israeli airstrikes on southern Lebanon Saturday killed three Hezbollah members, according to the Lebanese armed group which retaliated by launching a rocket attack on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights, wounding several people.

Israel’s Magen David Adom paramedic service initially reported 11 people wounded, five critically while the remaining six suffered severe injuries.

Hezbollah said in a statement the attack, which saw its fighters firing Katyusha rockets at an Israeli army post in the Golan Heights, was in response to Israeli airstrikes on villages in south Lebanon. The group said earlier three of its members were killed on Saturday without specifying where.

Israel’s military said its air force targeted a Hezbollah arms depot on the border village of Kfar Kila, adding that militants were inside at the time.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Mideast war and later annexed them in 1981.

Israel and Hezbollah have traded near daily fire since the war in Gaza started after Hamas’ surprise attack on Oct.7 killed some 1,200 people and took 250 others hostage. Israel launched an offensive that has so far killed more than 39,000 people, according to local health authorities, displaced over 80% of the territory’s people and triggered a humanitarian disaster in the Gaza Strip.

Over the past weeks, the exchange of fire along the Lebanon-Israel intensified with Israeli airstrikes and rocket and drone attacks by Hezbollah striking deeper and further away from the border.

Since early October, Israeli airstrikes in Lebanon have killed more than 450 people, mostly Hezbollah members, but also around 90 civilians and non-combatants. On the Israeli side, 21 soldiers and 13 civilians have been killed.