US says strike kills pro-Iran militia commander at its HQ in Baghdad
PMF leader’s vehicle hit, according to US official; paramilitary force says Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi ‘martyred’ in attack
The US military has carried out a strike in Baghdad against an Iraqi militia leader it blames for attacks against US forces in the country, killing him and another person, a US official told Reuters on Thursday.
The US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the strike hit a vehicle in Baghdad. It targeted a leader of Harakat al Nujaba, the official said, without naming the person.
Earlier Thursday, the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF) said that the strike in Baghdad had killed a military commander of the ex-paramilitary force, with an Iraq security official reporting two deaths in a drone attack.
“A drone targeted the logistical support headquarters of PMF,” mainly pro-Iranian former paramilitary units integrated into the Iraqi armed forces, said the security official.
The strike killed “two members and wounded seven others,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A PMF source, also asking not to be named, confirmed the death toll and charged that the United States was behind the attack.
Footage shows the moment of the airstrike that killed 2 commanders in the PMF in Baghdad. #Iraq pic.twitter.com/a7L24rJpUF
— Tammuz Intel (@Tammuz_Intel) January 4, 2024
Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the PMF’s factions, said in a statement that “the deputy commander of operations for Baghdad, Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi” had been “martyred in a US strike.”
There was no immediate comment from US officials, whose forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria have faced a surge in attacks since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Videos shared on a Telegram channel linked to the PMF showed columns of smoke rising above the area of the strike on Baghdad’s Palestine Street, normally a bustling commercial road.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement that the US-led international coalition bears responsibility for the “unjustified” attack on an Iraqi security force.
The alleged US strike comes amid soaring regional tensions over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which began on October 7, when terrorists stormed the Gaza border into southern Israel and killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and kidnapped at least 240.
The past week saw deadly blasts in Iran and the killing of deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri in an alleged Israeli strike in Lebanon.
Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah and Gazan terror group Hamas have vowed revenge over the killing of Arouri, while Iran has blamed Israel and the United States for the twin blasts that ripped through a crowd commemorating General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force, who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq exactly four years ago. The US and Israeli observers have said it is unlikely the blasts were Israel’s doing.
Hostilities also threatened to expand to Yemen after the United States and its allies jointly warned the country’s Houthi rebels of unspecified consequences unless they immediately halted attacks on Red Sea shipping carried out in solidarity with Hamas.
A tally by US military officials has counted at least 118 attacks against its troops in Iraq and Syria since October 17. Most of the attacks have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose formation of armed groups affiliated with the PMF (also known as Hashed al-Shaabi), itself a coalition of former paramilitary forces integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces.
The group of militias has also claimed attacks on Israel, including in December when an apparent explosive-laden drone believed to have been launched from Syria crashed in the southern Golan Heights. The unmanned aerial vehicle crashed near the moshav of Eliad in northern Israel, causing no injuries but some damage to a number of structures.
A week before that, the group claimed it struck a “vital target” in the Mediterranean Sea several days prior. A source in the group told Al Jazeera that the target was the Karish gas rig off northern Israel’s coast.
The claims came shortly after the Israel Defense Forces announced it had downed a drone on December 15 over the sea near Lebanon as it approached Israeli airspace. The IDF did not elaborate further on where the drone was launched from, or why it published the incident a week after it happened.
Washington has warned that it will respond against Iran-backed militia positions following the surge of attacks over the past two months.
US President Joe Biden in December ordered the US military to carry out strikes on Iranian-backed Iraqi groups following a rocket attack that wounded three US troops.
The US denied involvement in three early Saturday morning airstrikes in eastern Syria near a strategic border crossing with Iraq, which killed four Hezbollah terrorists and two other Iran-backed militants.
The spike in tension has put Baghdad in a delicate situation. Iraq’s Prime Minister Sudani has tried to ease the strain between the militant groups that helped him reach power and the US where Iraq’s foreign reserves are housed.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
