NEPTIS, Iraq — The white Kia pickup turned off the desert street and rumbled onto a dust observe, stopping close to a marsh. Quickly there was a fl
NEPTIS, Iraq — The white Kia pickup turned off the desert street and rumbled onto a dust observe, stopping close to a marsh. Quickly there was a flash and a ripping sound as the primary of the rockets fired from the truck soared towards Iraq’s Ok-1 navy base.
The rockets wounded six individuals and killed an American contractor, setting off a sequence of occasions that introduced the USA and Iran to the brink of conflict.
America blamed an Iraqi militia with shut ties to Iran and bombed five of the group’s bases. Offended Iraqis then stormed the American Embassy. America then killed Iran’s top general. Iran then fired missiles at American forces and mistakenly shot down a passenger jet, killing 176 individuals.
However Iraqi navy and intelligence officers have raised doubts about who fired the rockets that began the spiral of occasions, saying they consider it’s unlikely that the militia the USA blamed for the assault, Khataib Hezbollah, carried it out.
Iraqi officers acknowledge that they haven’t any direct proof tying the Dec. 27 rocket assault to at least one group or one other. And parts of Iraq’s safety forces have shut ties to Iran, which could make them reluctant accountable an Iranian-linked drive.
American officers insist that they’ve strong proof that Khataib Hezbollah carried out the assault, although they haven’t made it public.
Iraqi officers say their doubts are primarily based on circumstantial proof and lengthy expertise within the space the place the assault occurred.
The rockets had been launched from a Sunni Muslim a part of Kirkuk Province infamous for assaults by the Islamic State, a Sunni terrorist group, which might have made the world hostile territory for a Shiite militia like Khataib Hezbollah.
Khataib Hezbollah has not had a presence in Kirkuk Province since 2014.
The Islamic State, nonetheless, had carried out three assaults comparatively near the bottom within the 10 days earlier than the assault on Ok-1. Iraqi intelligence officers despatched reviews to the Individuals in November and December warning that ISIS meant to focus on Ok-1, an Iraqi air base in Kirkuk Province that can be utilized by American forces.
And the deserted Kia pickup was discovered was lower than 1,000 toes from the location of an ISIS execution in September of 5 Shiite buffalo herders.
These information all level to the Islamic State, Iraqi officers say.
“All of the indications are that it was Daesh,” stated Brig. Normal Ahmed Adnan, the Iraqi chief of intelligence for the federal police at Ok-1, utilizing the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State. “I informed you concerning the three incidents within the days simply earlier than within the space — we all know Daesh’s actions.
“We as Iraqi forces can’t even come to this space except we’ve a big drive as a result of it’s not safe. How might it’s that somebody who doesn’t know the world might come right here and discover that firing place and launch an assault?”
Khataib Hezbollah has denied accountability for the assault, and no group has claimed it.
American officers, nonetheless, stated that they had a number of strands of intelligence indicating that Khataib Hezbollah carried it out.
American investigators examined the Kia pickup, which yielded proof that helped attribute the assault to Khataib Hezbollah, two American officers stated, talking on situation of anonymity to debate intelligence issues. They didn’t say what concerning the truck linked it to the group.
One American official stated additionally they had intercepted communications exhibiting the group’s involvement.
The American officers stated that there had been 11 rocket assaults in November and December towards Iraqi bases utilized by American or coalition forces. One official stated that for greater than half of these assaults, together with the Dec. 27 assault, the USA had excessive confidence that Khataib Hezbollah was accountable.
America has not introduced any of its intelligence publicly. Nor has it shared the intelligence with Iraq.
“We’ve got requested the American aspect to share with us any data, any proof, however they haven’t despatched us any data,” Lt. Gen. Muhammad al-Bayati, the chief of employees for former Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, stated in an interview.
The director common of Iraqi Intelligence and Counterterrorism, Abu Ali al-Basri, stated the USA didn’t seek the advice of Iraq earlier than finishing up the Dec. 29 counterattacks on Khataib Hezbollah.
“They didn’t ask for my evaluation of what occurred in Kirkuk and neither did they share any of their data,” he stated. “Often, they might do each.”
Although American and Iraqi forces work aspect by aspect on counterterrorism, American intelligence and protection officers stated that the USA doesn’t all the time share delicate intelligence with Iraq as a result of Iranian operatives have penetrated the Baghdad authorities and can feed intelligence to Tehran.
Iraqi intelligence officers stated it was troublesome to evaluate the American assertions with out seeing the American intelligence.
They stated they noticed nothing uncommon concerning the truck…