The US and Saudi Arabia launched major airstrikes in Iraq overnight, targeting the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of mostly Shia militias formed in 2014 to fight ISIS.
The US-Saudi strikes targeted PMF facilities in Baghdad and five Iraqi provinces, killing at least 20 PMF fighters, according to the group. President Trump claimed the attacks were coordinated with the Iraqi government, but Baghdad strongly condemned the strikes, with Iraq’s National Security Council saying they “resulted in a group of innocent martyrs and wounded.”
The attacks were launched over claims that Iraqi militias targeted oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, though Yemen’s Ansar Allah appeared to take credit for the attacks, and the Islamic Resistance of Iraq, an Iran-aligned Shia coalition that includes PMF militias, denied responsibility.
The Iraqi National Security Council said the strikes came as “the Iraqi government was communicating with the concerned parties to verify and address” Saudi Arabia’s claims “regarding the targeting of Saudi territories [from Iraq].” Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who recently visited Trump in Washington, canceled a planned trip to Saudi Arabia over the attacks.
In its statement on the strikes, US Central Command said that US and Saudi aircraft “struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours.” Iranian media reported that four members of the IRGC’s Quds Force were killed by US-Saudi strikes on the Iraqi city of Karbala, a holy city for Shia Muslims.
Iran-aligned factions in Iraq also strongly condemned the US-Saudi strikes and called on the Iraqi government to take action. “We condemn in the strongest terms the sinful and unjustified aggression that targeted the sovereignty of Iraq and its armed forces,” said Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the Badr Organization, according to Rudaw.
“We demand that the Iraqi government take a firm and decisive stance regarding this infringement on Iraq’s sovereignty and the targeting of its heroic forces,” al-Amiri added.
The escalation in Iraq came after the IRGC targeted a US base in Jordan with a missile attack, which the IRGC said was a response to “aggressive actions by the child-killing American army.” President Trump threatened a major response to the Iranian attack, which came after a several-day lull in US attacks against Iran, though the US continues to enforce a blockade of Iranian ports.
