An Israeli airstrike saved US troops from attack during the war

This is an X thread by Lawk Ghafuri late last month.

Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq promised war - but delivered silence.

As Israel & Iran traded blows, militias in Iraq threatened U.S. bases with open escalation. Then suddenly… nothing!

I spoke with two officials in Baghdad. What I learned: one airstrike changed everything. 

 

After the Israel-Iran ceasefire took hold and tensions slowly calmed across the region - I started digging.

A series of quiet conversations with top figures in Baghdad revealed why the loud threats from Iranian-backed groups in Iraq never turned into action. 

 Despite bold rhetoric from Iranian-backed groups, not a single attack was fired at US bases inside Iraq during the height of the war.

Why? 

Two senior Coordination Framework advisors (CF) told me there was a plan. And it nearly went ahead - until one strike changed everything. 

  It was the evening of June 21. An Israeli airstrike hit near the Iraqi-Iranian border - close to Al-Sheeb crossing in Maysan (Iraq) and Mehran in Ilam (Iran).

The strike didn’t happen on Iraqi soil. It landed on the Iranian side of the border.

4/ But the target was deep in the heart of Iran’s Iraq-based strategy: Haydar al-Mousawi, Head of security for Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada - a powerful Iranian backed group in Iraq.

He was killed instantly, and confirmed by the group in an official statement.

Mousawi wasn’t alone - Abu Ali Khalil, a close associate of Lebanese Hezbollah and former companion of the slain general-secretary Hassan Nasrallah.

Even Khalil’s son was among the dead.

The fallout was instant. Within hours, panic swept through Iraq’s resistance groups. Coded messages flew between commanders. According to my sources: “Everyone froze. No one wanted to be the next target.” 

The groups were warned that attacking the U.S. would bring more Israeli strikes.

On top of that, Baghdad informed the groups: Tehran had already reached a ceasefire with Israel - Baghdad was informed by Qataris, according to both advisors.

The decision - stand down.  

Rumors circulated that the real target was Abu Ali Khalil. But both CF advisors were clear with me: that’s false.

The primary target was Haydar al-Mousawi.  

Why Mousawi? Because Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada was already aiming to transfer weapons (mainly Iranian drones) into Iraq to use them to attack the US bases.

Their mission: attack U.S. interests inside Iraq. However, the Israeli strike was a preemptive message: Don’t start. 

In the end, the death of one commander killed an entire plan. Every group in Iraq understood that escalation could bring war to their doorstep.

And no one wanted to be the spark that lit that fire. 

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