Baghdad:
A US strike in Baghdad on Thursday killed a pro-Iran navy commander, the Pentagon mentioned, with Al-Hashed al-Shaabi ex-paramilitaries saying it hit considered one of their headquarters.
An Iraqi safety official mentioned two folks have been killed and 7 wounded within the drone strike, which the federal government dubbed a “blatant aggression”.
However Pentagon spokesman Main Basic Pat Ryder mentioned the strike was an act of self-defence towards a commander who was actively planning assaults towards US personnel.
“It is important to note that the strike was taken in self-defence, that no civilians were harmed and that no infrastructure or facilities were struck,” Ryder informed journalists in Washington.
The strike focused a frontrunner of Harakat al-Nujaba who was “actively involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel,” in line with Ryder, who mentioned it additionally killed one other of the group’s members.
The assault and the toll, confirmed by a Hashed supply who requested to not be named, got here as stress mounted within the area amid the Israel-Hamas warfare raging within the Gaza Strip.
The Hashed al-Shaabi are primarily pro-Iranian former paramilitary items who had battled Sunni Muslim jihadists and who are actually built-in into the Iraqi armed forces.
Harakat al-Nujaba, one of many Hashed’s factions, mentioned that “the deputy commander of operations for Baghdad, Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi”, had been “martyred in a US strike”.
Movies shared on a Telegram channel linked to the Hashed confirmed columns of smoke rising above the realm of the strike on Baghdad’s Palestine Avenue, usually a bustling industrial highway.
The location was cordoned off by Hashed forces, who blocked journalists’ entry to the location, an AFP photographer mentioned.
– Regional tensions –
The strike got here after a spate of assaults on US forces in Iraq and neighbouring Syria for the reason that begin of the Gaza warfare. Washington says there have been greater than 100 since mid-October.
Many have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a free alliance of Iran-linked armed teams that oppose US assist for Israel within the Gaza warfare.
The US has round 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as a part of the multinational coalition combating the Islamic State group since 2014.
The US navy has responded to latest assaults by launching air strikes focusing on websites utilized by Iran and its proxy forces in Iraq and Syria, together with Hashed websites.
Thursday’s strike was denounced by Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani as “a dangerous escalation and assault”, in line with his workplace.
“The Iraqi armed forces hold the global coalition forces responsible for this unwarranted attack,” a spokesperson for Sudani mentioned in a press release.
Professional-Iran events dominate Iraq’s parliament, and received the vast majority of council seats in a lot of the nation’s provinces following provincial council elections held in December.
The Baghdad authorities has condemned among the assaults on US targets however has additionally criticised Washington for taking issues into their very own fingers in response.
The Pentagon spokesman inisted Iraq stays “an important and valued partner,” and that “our forces are there at the invitation of the government of Iraq to help train and advise” as a part of the anti-IS mission.
“As we have been doing all along, we will continue to consult closely with the Iraqi government about the safety and security of US forces,” Ryder mentioned.
(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)