Iraq vows to ‘not remain silent’ after airstrike kills Iraqi troops

Iraq says its armed forces “will not remain silent” after an airstrike yesterday killed seven soldiers at a site said to belong to a coalition of pro-Iran militias that is part of the Iraqi military.

Despite Iraq’s attempts to stay out of the war in Iran, says the Iraqi prime minister’s office on X, “the condemned attacks that targeted our military units have persisted, the latest of which occurred this morning in a treacherous aggression against the Al-Habbaniyah military clinic affiliated with the Ministry of Defense.”

According to Al Jazeera, the attack targeted positions of the Popular Mobilization Forces, which is part of Iraq’s regular armed forces but includes brigades belonging to Iran-backed groups. The PMF blames the US for the strike, which killed one of its commanders and 14 other PMF fighters.

“We affirm that the government and the armed forces possess the right to respond by all available means in accordance with what the United Nations Charter stipulates,” says Iraq, “and that they will not remain silent in the face of the sanctity of the blood of our heroic martyrs,” adding that the strike “harms the relationship that binds the peoples of Iraq and the United States of America.”

Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani says his foreign ministry will give the US chargé d’affaires “an official protest note with a strongly worded tone that includes our firm and steadfast position in preserving Iraqi sovereignty, and condemns the irresponsible actions that have amounted to this heinous crime.”

Iraq will also submit a complaint to the UN National Security Council.