Iraq Revokes America’s Bombing Privileges Frustrating the Potential US-Israeli War on Iran
Makes it far harder for the pair to spy on and bomb Iraqi Shia militias
Editor’s note: from now on, all flights, even unarmed and drone flights will require the explicit approval of the Iraqi military on a case-by-case basis.
In what is a severely under reported but perhaps the most alarming development out of the Middle East this week, Iraq’s government has said it’s ready to down any aircraft violating its airspace amid a blanket ban on ‘unauthorized’ flights not specifically approved by the prime minister’s office. Military Times reported the day after Iraq closed its airspace on Thursday:
U.S. military officials in Iraq will now seek out Iraqi approval before launching any air operations, a move made a day after that nation’s prime minister announced a ban of unauthorized flights, including those involving coalition forces fighting ISIS.
Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi called for an end to all “unauthorized flights” including US drones, spy planes, jets, or helicopters on Thursday. The directive demanded that all aerial vehicles comply with Iraqi law and operations must be under Iraqi government authorization.
The US Coalition on Friday issued a statement saying that it is ready to comply with the order:
The US-led Coalition says it is complying with an order by Iraq's Prime Minister banning airspace access to international aircraft [following a recent claimed US or Israeli strike on an arms dump near Baghdad, which killed a civilian and destroyed c$100m of munitions] pic.twitter.com/qtafT7csEH
— Airwars (@airwars) August 16, 2019
The drastic Baghdad decision came after on Monday a massive blast ripped through a neighborhood in the city, which Iraqi officials believe was the result of an Israeli strike on a pro-Iranian militia ammunition depot.
The resulting fire had raged throughout the day not far from the ‘Green Zone’ and sent mortars and exploding munitions across the city, resulting in the death of at least one civilian and wounding of nearly 40 others, many of them children. The weapons base reportedly belonged to the pro-Iran Kataib Sayyid Al-Shuhada militia, and an estimated $110 million worth of munitions were wiped out.
https://twitter.com/thestevennabil/status/1160961051388551171
“The prime minister ordered to revoke all special flight permits in Iraqi airspace for reconnaissance aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft with weapons, fighters, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles of all kinds available to the Iraqi and non-Iraqi sides”, an official Iraq government statement said after an Iraqi National Security Council meeting this week.
“All authorities are required to comply with this order. Any flights that violate this regulation will be considered an aggression, which our air defense will immediately respond to,” the statement added.
While there’s been no official government statement out of Baghdad confirming an Israeli jet or drone was behind the attack amid an ongoing investigation, Iraqi militia commanders and military leaders were quick to name Israel, and not for the first time (prior recent ‘mystery’ explosions at Iran-backed militia bases have also been blamed on Israeli). “We believe that the US and Israel were behind these explosions,” one Shiite commander told Arab News.
Indeed even Israeli media has been source of widespread speculation that Israeli planes have been conducting raids in Iraqi airspace of late. All of this also comes as Iraq’s parliament has increasingly voiced anger and frustration at the continued US troop presence even after the Islamic State has been defeated.
It is indeed an important and under-reported matter.
But does Iraq possess any serious capacity to down non-compliant aircraft?
And will the US treat their threat the same way it does the government’s many requests for the American military to pack-up and go home?
It just ignores them.
I am sure that Iraq has enough missiles from various sources to be at least a threat in the air.
However, the biggest threat is in its telling the US military to leave Iraq if the US doesn’t comply, which is something that Iraqi government has been threatening this year, giving its close affiliation to the government and military in Iran. Not an idle threat.
This is all part of an inexorable move away from US influence in the Middle East, as the influence from China and Russia deepens. China re-starting 3 major oil projects in Iran last week was just a sample of it.
Thanks, Chuckman! Always enjoy your informed opinion.
The USA invaded, illegally, in a war crime, based on lies which would not have given USA legal or moral authority to attack and invade anyway, if the les had been true.
The USA, after destroying Iraq in a massive war crime, murdering in cold blood, hundreds of thousands Iraqis, either innocent unarmed civilians, or Iraqi Patriots trying to defend their Home Land from an invading, raping, slaughtering, thieving criminal, is STILL occupying Iraq.
Iraq don’t want USA in their country, but USA threatens Iraq if they try to force them to leave.
Every USA GI in Iraq is a WAR CRIMINAL.
The generals who sent them are war criminals.
The president who is their commander in Chief is a war criminal.
The congress which did not stop the war crimes, and indeed continue to fund the military doing these war crimes, make the congressmen and women, war criminals.
Time for Americans to grow a set, put a stop to Israhells and DC’s war crimes, crimes against Humanity.
I hope the Iraqis mean business.
USA and Israhell, have been allowed to run amuck in the Middle East, with no one with the balls to shoot their criminal butts down.
Hopefully that is about to change.
USA, don’t want your pilots killed?
Get them the hell out of Iraq!
Don’t order them to do war crimes against the Iraqi people, in Iraq, where they have no right to be.
Its their country, not yours!
ok, so who brings these people to the dock ?
The people of the world, but they got to pull their heads out of their backsides, stand up, speak up.
They are few, the people are many.
But they have to get off their knees.
“In what is a severely under reported but perhaps the most alarming development out of the Middle East this week, Iraq’s government has said it’s ready to down any aircraft violating its airspace amid a blanket ban on ‘unauthorized’ flights not specifically approved by the prime minister’s office.”
This is only an “alarming” development from the American Empire’s warped viewpoint in which it has a divine right to invade and now occupy Iraq to begin with … all based on America’s lies about non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.
America tries to normalize its imperial “right” to dominate and subjugate other nations–even through the Orwellian language that it routinely spews.
This American strategy of normalized American imperialism is what should be called out, every damn time it rears its face.