‘High risk’ of Middle East tensions spillover to Iraq: Borrell
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday warned of a strong possibility that Israel's conflict with the pro-Iran groups may spillover to Iraq.
“We want to prevent a full war between Iran and Israel that could be of dramatic circumstances for the whole region. Our most important work is to try to avoid the spillover of the war that started with the terrorist attack of Hamas, continued by the war in Gaza, and now is threatening the Lebanon, the Red Sea, and who knows tomorrow?” Borrell told Rudaw during a press briefing in Luxembourg on the sidelines of the EU foreign ministers summit in the country.
He added that there are bombings in Syria and “there is a high risk of spillover affecting maybe Iraq. But don't call for the bad weather.”
The EU official also said that they have had “enough with what we have. So let's hope that the war will not spill over to other countries, to anyone more.”
Top diplomats of EU countries gathered in Luxembourg to discuss a range of topics, including Russia-Ukraine war and Israeli war with pro-Iran armed groups in the Middle East.
On the same day, the European Council sanctioned seven individuals and seven entities in relation to Iran’s latest attack on Israel.
"We have been condemning the attacks by Hamas, by Hezbollah, and by anyone against Israel, by Iran also. And it's clear that there is a certain of, let's say proxies, like the Houthis in Yemen, who are attacking Israel. We condemn all activities by the Iran proxies,” Borrel told Rudaw on Monday.
The involvement of Iraqi militia groups in Israel’s conflict with other Iranian proxies has put the Iraqi government in a difficult situation.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose network of pro-Iran militia groups based in Iraq, have claimed responsibility for dozens of drone and rocket attacks on US interests in Iraq and Syria. They have also carried out attacks inside Iraq.
An advisor to the Iraqi prime minister said on Monday that Iraq is at the “forefront” of Arab countries defending against aggression with Israeli attacks on Gaza and Lebanon violating human rights and international law.
“Iraq will remain at the forefront of countries defending the rights of Arab peoples, and will continue to work to strengthen Arab solidarity in the face of aggression,” Hashem al-Karawi told Rudaw.
His remarks came a day after Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein warned against violating Iraq’s airspace to expand the conflict in the Middle East, with Baghdad trying to stay out of growing hostilities between arch-rivals Iran and Israel. He called on regional actors to “take the conflict far” from Iraq.
Tensions in the Middle East against the backdrop of the Israel-Gaza war have simmered since an Israeli airstrike in southern Beirut late last month killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah - a top Hamas and Iran ally.
Zinar Shino contributed to this article.