Ashab Al-Kahf faction threatens Israel if Beirut comes under attack
Shafaq News- Baghdad
The Iraqi armed group Ashab al-Kahf, a part of the so-called “Islamic Resistance,” warned on Tuesday that it could target the Israeli city of Eilat and its port if Beirut or its southern suburbs come under Israeli attack.
In a statement, the group said any such action would be carried out “in coordination with the Axis of Resistance.”
US President Donald Trump announced that both Israel and Hezbollah had agreed to stop attacks, adding that there would be no Israeli soldiers entering Beirut and that any troops previously heading toward the Lebanese capital had already turned back
Ashab al-Kahf also rejected political calls for armed factions to surrender their weapons, describing claims that Iraq’s highest Shiite religious authority supports such a course as a false argument.
Ashab al-Kahf is one of Iraq’s most prominent clandestine armed groups and first emerged publicly in 2019. Western research organizations have described it as a possible front group linked to the network of Iran-backed armed factions in Iraq.
The group’s name has appeared in previous statements claiming or threatening attacks against US, Turkish, and Israeli interests, although it has never publicly identified a leadership structure or announced an official organizational hierarchy.
