Armed factions in Baghdad begin evacuating their headquarters in anticipation of an Israeli attack

After Israel threatened to respond to Iran

Armed factions in Baghdad began evacuating their headquarters on Wednesday in anticipation of an expected Israeli attack.

The Middle East is awaiting Israel's response to an Iranian missile attack last week in response to the Israeli military escalation in Lebanon. The Iranian attack ultimately did not kill anyone in Israel and Washington described it as ineffective.

Escalation in the region

In conjunction with dozens of Iranian missiles that Israel witnessed, and Washington's threat to support the latter, Iraqi factions announced that American bases in Iraq and the region would be a target if the United States joined any response to the Iranian strikes on Israel.

Netanyahu vowed that Iran would pay the price for its missile attack, while Tehran said that any retaliatory response would be met with widespread destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the oil-producing region, which could draw the United States into it.

Airstrikes

Iraqi armed factions loyal to Iran, including the Hezbollah Brigades, the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, and the al-Nujaba Movement, form what is known as the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” which has announced in recent months that it has launched drone attacks on targets in Israel against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.

Since April, Israel has confirmed a number of airstrikes from the east, without pointing the finger at a specific party, and has announced several times that it has intercepted drones outside its airspace.

The escalation in Lebanon and the year-long war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip have raised concerns about the expansion of the conflict in the Middle East, drawing in Iran, as well as the United States, Israel’s strongest ally.