BAGHDAD (AFP) – The Pentagon said a pro-Iranian military commander was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad on Thursday, and the former al-Hashd al-Shaabi militia said one of its strongholds was attacked.
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Iraqi security officials said two people were killed and seven others injured in the drone attack, which the government called a “blatant invasion.”
But Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said the attack was an act of self-defense against commanders who were actively planning attacks on U.S. service members.
“It is important to note that the attack was in self-defense, there were no civilian casualties and there was no attack on infrastructure or facilities,” Ryder told reporters in Washington.
Ryder said the attack targeted the leader of Harakat al-Nujaba, who was “actively involved in planning and carrying out attacks against Americans,” and that another member of the group was also killed. said.
The attack and the death toll, confirmed by a Hashed source on condition of anonymity, came amid heightened tensions in the region amid the escalating Israeli-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
Hashd al-Shaabi is a primarily pro-Iranian former militia that fought against Sunni Islamic jihadists and is now integrated into the Iraqi army.
Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the pro-Hash factions, said that “deputy commander of the Baghdad operation Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi” was “martyred in the US attack.”
A video shared on a Telegram channel associated with Hashd showed a column of smoke rising above the strike area on Baghdad’s Palestine Street, a normally busy commercial thoroughfare.
An AFP photographer said the site had been blocked by Hashed forces, preventing journalists from accessing it.
regional tensions
The attack followed a series of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and neighboring Syria since the start of the Gaza war. Washington says there have been more than 100 cases since mid-October.
Many were recaptured by the Islamic Resistance Movement of Iraq, a loose alliance of Iranian-linked armed groups opposed to US support for Israel in the Gaza war.
Since 2014, the United States has sent about 2,500 troops to Iraq and 900 to Syria as part of a multinational coalition fighting Islamic State.
In response to recent attacks, the US military launched airstrikes targeting sites used by Iran and its proxies in Iraq and Syria, including the Hashed site.
Thursday’s attack was condemned by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as a “dangerous escalation and attack,” according to his office.
“The Iraqi military believes that the global coalition is responsible for this unprovoked attack,” Sudani’s spokesperson said in a statement.
Pro-Iranian parties have a majority in Iraq’s parliament and won a majority of parliamentary seats in most of the country’s provinces after provincial elections in December.
The Baghdad government has blamed some of the attacks on US targets, but it has also criticized the US government for taking matters into its own hands in response.
A Pentagon spokesperson said Iraq remains an “important and valued partner” and that “our troops are stationed there to provide training and advice at the invitation of the Iraqi government” as part of the mission against IS. insisted.
“As we have always done, we will continue to consult closely with the Iraqi government regarding the safety and security of U.S. forces,” Ryder said.
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