The results are still unclear at this time. A “bombing” on a military base in Iraq caused several victims during the night from Friday to Saturday, security sources reported in an already explosive regional context. The targeted site, located in the central Babylon province, housed army troops and former pro-Iran paramilitaries of Hachd al-Shaabi
Iraqi authorities have not yet indicated who was behind the airstrike, or whether it was a drone. “The United States did not carry out airstrikes in Iraq today,” reacted, for its part, the American Military Command for the Middle East (Centcom) on X, shortly after this announcement.
Hashd al-Shaabi confirms injuries
Questioned by AFP, the Israeli army assured “not to comment on information published in foreign media. » An official at the Ministry of the Interior had initially reported a toll of “one dead and eight injured” in an “aerial bombardment”. But Hachd al-Chaabi, a coalition of pro-Iran armed groups, confirmed in a press release “injuries”, without specifying the number, and “material losses” in an “explosion”. A “preliminary investigation” had been opened and investigators dispatched to the site.
This development in Iraq comes at a time when diplomatic efforts are continuing to avoid a conflagration in the Middle East, against a backdrop of war in Gaza and rekindled tensions between Israel and Iran. Early Friday, drone strikes targeted the surroundings of a military base in the Isfahan region in central Iran. The attack was blamed on Israel, which, however, did not claim responsibility.
Several pro-Iran armed factions
Hashd al-Shaabi is an integral part of the official Iraqi security apparatus placed under the authority of the Prime Minister. But this institution brings together several pro-Iran armed factions, some of which have also carried out dozens of attacks, in Iraq and Syria, against American soldiers deployed as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
Before Friday’s strikes in Iran in the vicinity of Isfahan, Tehran carried out an unprecedented drone and missile attack against Israel on April 13. It was a response to a previous attack which destroyed the Iranian consulate in Damascus and cost the lives of seven soldiers, including two high-ranking officers.
Iraqi diplomacy expressed Friday evening its “strong concern” regarding the attack in Isfahan and “warned of the risks of military escalation which threatens security and stability in the region”.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Chia al-Soudani is still in the United States, where he met President Joe Biden earlier this week.