Iraq said today an air strike that targeted members of the Iran-backed Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in the country was carried out by US-led coalition forces, and said it risks drawing Iraq into a wider regional conflict.
"The coalition forces have… targeted, with fighter jets coming from beyond the borders, Iraqi security forces sites in northern Babil governorate at 22:45 on Tuesday, July 30," armed forces spokesman Yehia Rasool said. "Such serious and uncalculated transgressions… risk dragging Iraq and the entire region into dangerous conflicts and wars."
The attack came ahead of Palestinian militant group Hamas' chief political leader Ismail Haniyeh being killed in Tehran, and after Israel claimed responsibility for a strike in Beirut that targeted a senior Hezbollah military commander.
The Kataib Hezbollah militia — part of the Iran-backed PMF, an umbrella organisation for mainly Shia militia affiliated with Iraq's security forces — confirmed the attack on its personnel saying it targeted "a group of drone experts who were planning to conduct new technical experiments to improve the efficiency of reconnaissance drones."
PMF units have claimed multiple attacks on Israel since October last year, in what they say is an act of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. These attacks have not been verified, nor confirmed by Israel.
The US has not commented on the Iraq airstrike.
Rasool said such attacks undermine recent political and diplomatic efforts of ending the presence of coalition forces in Iraq and transitioning to a bilateral security relationship with the US.
Washington and Baghdad have held multiple rounds of talks on the future of US and other foreign troops in the country, with some US forces likely to remain in a newly negotiated advisory capacity. The US government has not ruled out a complete withdrawal of its military from Iraq.
That has become a key political target for some Iraqi politicians, mainly the Iran-aligned Iraqi political factions. The US wants to avoid an Afghanistan-like withdrawal scenario, and prefers not to give Iran a win in one of the Mideast Gulf's resource-rich and political significant country.
