The war in Gaza seems to be spreading more and more to engulf neighbouring countries. The United States on Tuesday carried out a strike south of Baghdad, in Iraq. The strike, according to U.S. officials, was in self-defense. Regional tensions are already high with an Israeli airstrike in Beirut that Israel claimed, killed Hezbollah’s most senior commander.
Iraqi police and medical sources said the strike inside a base used by Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) killed four members of the group that has several Iran-aligned armed militias, and wounded four others. In a statement after the blasts, the Popular Mobilization Forces made no accusation about who was responsible.
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States carried out an airstrike in Musayib, located in Babil province, but did not provide more details on the location. The officials added that the strike targeted militants that the U.S. deemed were looking to launch drones and posed a threat to U.S. and coalition forces.
The officials did not comment on any casualties. “This action underscores the United States commitment to the safety and security of our personnel” one of the officials said. Multiple rockets were launched toward Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase housing U.S.-led forces last week, U.S. and Iraqi sources said, with no damage or casualties reported. U.S. officials said none of the rockets hit the base. Tuesday’s action was the first known U.S. strike in Iraq since February, when the U.S. military launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Iran-aligned militias.
The 150,000-strong Popular Mobilisation Forces, a state-sanctioned grouping of Iraqi paramilitaries, is dominated by heavily armed and battle-hardened groups loyal to Iran and with close ties to its Revolutionary Guards. Iraq, a rare ally of both the U.S. and Iran which hosts 2,500 U.S. troops and has Iran-backed militias linked to its security forces, has witnessed escalating tit-for-tat attacks since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October.
Iraq wants troops from the U.S.-led military coalition to begin withdrawing in September and to formally end the coalition’s work by September 2025, Iraqi sources have said, with some U.S. forces likely to remain in a newly negotiated advisory capacity. U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in 2003, toppled former leader Saddam Hussein and then withdrew in 2011, only to return in 2014 to fight Islamic State at the head of a coalition. The relations between the two countries has been uneven all along, with Iraq often insisting on withdrawal of US troops, a highly sensitive and politicised issue in Iraq.
Team BharatShakti
(With Inputs from Reuters)
