Devendra Kumar
An airstrike on the logistical support headquarters of an Iran-backed militia in central Baghdad has killed a high-ranking militia commander, militia officials said. The strike came amid mounting regional tensions fueled by the Israel-Hamas war and fears it could spill over into surrounding countries. The Popular Mobilisation Force, a coalition of militias nominally under the control of the Iraqi military, said its deputy head of operations in Baghdad, Mushtaq Taleb al-Saidi, or Abu Taqwa, was killed “as a result of brutal American aggression.” An anonymous US official confirmed the country’s forces conducted a strike on a vehicle in Baghdad on Monday against the group Harakat al-Nujaba, which was designated a terrorist organization by Washington in 2019.
The US-led coalition’s primary mission is to fight the so-called Islamic State terrorist group, which continues to carry out periodic attacks in Iraq despite having lost its hold on the territory it once controlled in 2017. The Popular Mobilisation Force, a group of Iranian-backed, primarily Shiite militias, were also key in the fight against the Sunni extremist group after it overran much of Iraq in 2014. The PMF is officially under the command of the Iraqi army but in practice the militias operate independently.
The strike killed two people and wounded five, according to two militia officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. One of the officials said al-Saidi was driving into the garage of the headquarters affiliated with the al-Nujaba militia, one of the members of the PMF, along with another militia official when the car was hit, killing both. Heavy security was deployed around the location of the strike on Baghdad’s Palestine Street, and Iraqi war planes could be seen flying overhead.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7, a group of Iranian-backed militias calling itself the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has carried out more than 100 attacks on bases housing US troops in Iraq and Syria. The group said the attacks are in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in the war against Hamas, which has killed more than 20,000 people in Gaza. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq aims to push US forces out of Iraq. Thursday’s strike is likely to increase calls for a US departure.
Iraqi prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who came to power with the backing of Iran-linked political factions but has also attempted to maintain good relations with the US, said his government is “proceeding to end the presence of the international coalition forces” last week. The strike also comes two days after a suspected Israeli drone strike in the suburbs of Beirut killed Hamas deputy leader Saleh Arouri. When asked if Israel had involvement in Thursday’s strike in Baghdad, an Israeli military spokesperson declined to comment.