U.S. officials said Tuesday that U.S. forces struck a base near Baghdad, Iraq, used by the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an Iranian-backed Shiite militia that has launched numerous terrorist attacks against U.S. troops since the start of the Gaza war.
Iraqi Sources Said Four PMF members were killed and four wounded in the attack, which the Iraqi government condemned as a “heinous crime” and a violation of the US-led coalition’s mission to help Iraq fight the Islamic State.
Yehi Rahoul, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, said: Said The US attack was a “blatant act of aggression.”
“They were fighters from across the border who targeted Iraqi facilities owned by security forces in the northern province of Babil,” he said.
Such a serious and unplanned violation could severely undermine all efforts, mechanisms and frameworks of joint security efforts to combat ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and could also plunge Iraq and the entire region into conflict, war and serious repercussions.
The PMF and Iraq’s Iran-backed militant group Kataib Hezbollah responded curiously subdued to the attack, with the PMF only reporting it without identifying the attackers. Added It called on the Iraqi government to “immediately decide to expel foreign forces from our country.”
Kataib Hezbollah said a US strike launched from Kuwait shot down a “group of drone experts” who were reportedly performing maintenance on a surveillance drone. Iraqi militias warned Kuwait not to use its territory as a base for “US criminal activities.”
U.S. officials confirmed the attack and said the target was militants who had been threatening to carry out drone attacks against U.S. forces.
The last U.S. action against Iraqi militias took place in February, but the militias Release rocket There was a drone attack on U.S. forces in July, and the PMF’s rocket attacks reportedly caused no casualties or damage.
The US defensive attack against Iraqi militias came just hours after the Israeli airstrikes. killed Fouad Shukr, commander of the Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in Lebanon.
