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The United States escalated its strikes on Iraq on March 24, killing over a dozen members from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), amid reports of partial American withdrawal from the country.
The PMF, a part of Iraq’s regular armed forces and also includes Iran-aligned armed factions, said in a statement that 15 of its members were killed in the U.S. strikes, which targeted a command headquarters in the western province of al-Anbar.
This was the deadliest attack to target the umbrella group since the American-Israeli war on Iran began more than three weeks ago.
Many of the PMF’s factions are also a part of what is known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), another umbrella group — not recognized by the Iraqi government — that has been launching attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and neighboring countries since the start of the war.
The dead in the latest strike included the PMF’s operations commander in the province, Saad al-Baiji. The group urged “political forces to take responsibility and confront these repeated American violations.”
Later in the day, strikes hit a residence of PMF leader Falih al-Fayadh city of Mosul in al-Anbar, which he uses only during visits to the city. He was not there at the time, however. The strikes were also conducted by the U.S. A-10 Thunderbolt II close air support jets were seen in videos posted to social networks carrying out the strikes.
Separately in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, a ballistic missile attack killed six members of the Peshmergas, with the region accusing Iran of conducting the first such deadly attack since the war began.
The governments of the autonomous region have sought to maintain neutrality in the Iran war, especially that relations with the Islamic Republic had warmed in recent years.
The escalation took place a day after Saraya Awliya al-Dam, a faction of the IRI, claimed that U.S. and NATO forces had completed a withdrawal from the diplomatic support center, formerly known as Camp Victory, near Baghdad International Airport, saying that the pullout took place via cargo aircraft and vehicles toward Jordan.
The announcement followed a five-day ultimatum issued on March 22 by Kata’ib Hezbollah, another faction of the IRI, which demanded a full U.S. withdrawal from the country.
American forces will likely stay in the highly-fortified Green Zone in the capital, Baghdad, where the U.S. embassy is located, as well as in Kurdistan.
The latest escalation suggests that the U.S. is reorganizing its forces in the country to expand its operations against both the PMF and IRI.
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the amerikunts are getting their arses kicked out of irab heheheh
if i were inside the embassy in baghdad i would be chitting my pants right now.
if you leave the farm the cia will kill you. only the cia can determine what is right for the world. follow or perish
all this will do is increase the hate!