(Kirkuk) Five fighters in Iraq from a pro-Iran armed group were killed Sunday evening by a bombing in Kirkuk province, a US military official acknowledging a “self-defense strike” amid heightened regional tensions accompanying the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The strike in northern Iraq comes the day after the Iraqi government warned the United States against any “attack” on its territory, even if for their part pro-Iran groups have resumed shooting rocket and drone strikes against American troops stationed in Iraq and Syria.
On Sunday, an “aerial bombardment” targeted a “site” held by a faction affiliated with Hachd al-Chaabi, a coalition of ex-paramilitaries now integrated into the regular forces, a senior security official in Kirkuk told AFP. report of five dead.
For his part, an American military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed a “self-defense strike against an imminent threat” carried out in the vicinity of Kirkuk against “a drone launch site” .
The targeted area is near the border with autonomous Kurdistan in northern Iraq. An Iraqi police officer in the area assured AFP that “debris apparently belonging to a drone” was found on site.
Reporting “five dead and five injured”, a security official in Baghdad spoke of a drone strike targeting “a position of the al-Noujaba group in the Dibis region”.
“Refusal of any attack”
Sunday evening, the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”, a nebula formed by armed groups affiliated with Hashd al-Chaabi, tersely confirmed in a press release the death of five fighters.
It is this movement which has for several weeks claimed responsibility for the attacks carried out against American soldiers in Iraq and Syria.
Bombings illustrating the regional repercussions of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas in the Gaza Strip: pro-Iran groups justify their attacks by pointing out the support provided by Washington to Israel.
On Saturday, during a call with the head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Chia al-Soudani insisted on “Iraq’s refusal of any attack targeting Iraqi territory”.
Mr. Soudani had reiterated “the commitment of the Iraqi government to protect the advisers of the international coalition present in Iraq”, in reference to the American soldiers deployed in his country as part of an anti-jihadist coalition led by Washington.
At the end of November, in retaliation for recurring attacks by pro-Iran groups, deadly American strikes twice targeted pro-Iran fighters in Iraq.
76 attacks
Washington has also bombed sites linked to Iran three times in Syria.
The attacks against American soldiers had, however, ceased during the truce observed between Israel and Hamas, which shattered on Friday morning, raising fears of a regional escalation.
In total, Washington has recorded 76 attacks carried out since October 17 against its troops in Iraq and Syria, ten days after the start of the war, according to an updated report provided by an American military official.
Again on Sunday, “several rockets” targeted “American and coalition forces” stationed on a base in eastern Syria, without causing any casualties or damage, according to the American military official.
The Israel/Hamas war was triggered by an unprecedented attack carried out by the Palestinian Islamist movement in Israel on October 7, which left 1,200 dead, mostly civilians, according to the authorities.
In retaliation, Israel carried out devastating bombings against the Palestinian territory and launched a ground offensive on October 27. According to the Hamas government, more than 15,500 people, 70% of them women and children, have been killed in Israeli strikes since October 7.