A military official and another member of Hachd al-Chaabi were killed in a “drone strike” this Thursday in Baghdad, Iraq. This was announced by this Iraqi organization that brings together armed factions close to Iran. Hachd al-Chaabi is a coalition of former Shiite paramilitaries close to Iran who are now integrated into the regular Iraqi armed forces.
“Deputy Chief of Operations for Baghdad, Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi,” was “martyred in an American attack,” the al-Nujaba movement, one of those pro-Iranian and deeply anti-American factions, said in a statement. The Iraqi government attributed this attack, which targeted “a Hachd al-Chaabi logistical support center” in the east of the Iraqi capital, according to a security official on condition of anonymity, to the international anti-jihadist coalition led by the United States.
A US military official did not immediately respond to reporters' questions about the attack. “Iraqi forces blame international coalition forces for this attack,” Yahya Rassoul, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Chia al-Soudani, wrote in a statement, calling the attack “dangerous for escalation and aggression.” Drone.
American and international coalition forces targeted for attacks
Hachd al-Chaabi forces have been the target of several bombings in Iraq in recent weeks, some of which were claimed by the United States. For their part, American troops and those of the international anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq and Syria have been the target of drone and rocket attacks almost daily since the war between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas in Gaza began in October. Most of those attacks were claimed by a group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a smokescreen made up of armed groups affiliated with Hashd al-Shaabi that oppose American support for Israel. Since October 17, the US has registered more than a hundred attacks against its troops in Iraq and Syria.
Conflicts in the Middle East: USA bombs Hezbollah bases in Iraq
In addition, Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are carrying out attacks on ships they believe are linked to Israel, slowing maritime traffic.
Double explosion in Iran
The deaths of the two officials in Iraq came a day after the twin explosions in Iran that killed at least 103 people and injured more than 180. An attack occurred near the Saheb al-Zaman mosque in Kerman, southern Iran, where is the grave of Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, whose death the country commemorates on the fourth anniversary of.
After the death of a Hamas leader and an attack in Iran, there is a risk of conflagration in the Middle East
The day before, a senior Hamas official, Saleh al-Arouri, was killed in a drone strike in Lebanon. And while Israel did not call for the elimination of Hamas's political number two in Beirut on Tuesday night, it is being targeted after it vowed to “destroy” Hamas in response to its unprecedented October 7 attack on Israeli soil.
(With AFP)