Iraq could be the Middle East’s next battleground
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. No sooner had it unleashed the first of its drones at Israel on November 8th than the Iraqi militia published an image of missiles streaking through the sky. Israel said its aerial defences had thwarted the attack by al-Nujaba (“the Nobles").
“Big surprises in the coming hours," the group promised—in Hebrew as well as Arabic: “God willing, many events". Most of the Middle East’s rulers, including those of Iran’s allies, would prefer God has other plans. Iraq has been doing rather well of late.
It is at last using its oil revenues to fund infrastructure, not sectarian wars or foreign slush funds. Violence is at its lowest level since America’s invasion. Its officials are desperate to sidestep Israel’s conflict with Iran.
But their efforts are hamstrung by a lack of control over their own turf. Israel says Iran is funnelling fresh stocks of long-range missiles and explosive drones to its militias there. Iran is furious that America let Israel use Iraq’s airspace to bomb it.
Iraq could be the next country to be pulled into Israel’s regional war. For now, Iraq is relying on diplomacy to save it. On November 10th its national security adviser went to Iran for talks with the Quds Force, the foreign-operations arm of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (irgc), Iran’s praetorian guard.
He urged its boss to leave Iraq out of any Iranian plans to attack Israel in retaliation for its air strikes on October 26th. That same day Iraq’s prime minister, Muhammad al-Sudani, met the Saudi crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, in Riyadh to discuss how to prevent the war from spreading. Meanwhile, the country’s top cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, told the Iraqi state to take control of the
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