Iraq Condemns US Airstrike as ‘Heinous Crime and Blatant Aggression’

Iraq has strongly condemned a US airstrike that targeted the country on Tuesday and killed several members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a coalition of mostly Shia militias that was formed in 2014 to fight ISIS and are part of Iraq’s security forces.

The US attack came as Washington and Baghdad have been discussing the future of the US military presence in Iraq. US strikes against the PMF in 2023 and at the beginning of this year prompted Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to call for an end to the US-led anti-ISIS coalition in Iraq.

“Despite extensive efforts through political and diplomatic channels … in the efforts [to end] the presence and operations of the Global Coalition against Daesh (ISIS) in Iraq and transitioning to a bilateral security relationship based on mutual respect and safeguarding Iraq’s sovereignty and security, the coalition forces have committed a heinous crime and blatant aggression,” said Iraqi Maj. Gen. Yehia Rasool, a spokesman for al-Sudani.

“Such serious and uncalculated transgressions can significantly undermine all efforts, mechanisms, and frameworks of joint security work to combat ISIS in Iraq and Syria. They also risk dragging Iraq and the entire region into dangerous conflicts and wars. Therefore, we hold the coalition forces fully responsible for these consequences following this flagrant aggression,” Rasool added.

The PMF announced on Tuesday that at least four of its fighters were killed in the US attack. The US bombing came a few days after rocket attacks targeted US bases in Iraq and Syria for the first time in a few months, likely a response to the lack of a clear plan for a US withdrawal from Iraq.

The US bombing in Iraq came just hours after Israel launched an airstrike on Beirut targeting a senior Hezbollah commander. If Hezbollah and the Iraqi Shia militias coordinate a response to the Israeli escalation, it could involve attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria since the US has pledged it will intervene to defend Israel.

From October 2023 until February, US bases in Iraq and Syria came under hundreds of rocket and drone attacks. Iraqi Shia militias began the attacks in response to US support for the Israeli onslaught in Gaza.

After three US troops were killed in an attack on Tower 22, a secretive base in Jordan on the Syrian border, Iran and the Iraqi government pressured the militias to stop, and there have only been a handful of attacks since February.