At least seven soldiers were killed in Iraq today in an air strike targeting a base in the western part of the country, which was also targeted in a deadly bombing yesterday (Tuesday) against Hashd al-Shaabi, a paramilitary group involving pro-Iranian groups and integrated into the regular army.

Since the start of the Israeli-American attack on Iran on February 28, Iraq has been embroiled in a conflict it has wanted to avoid at all costs. Pro-Iranian Iraqi armed groups are daily claiming responsibility for attacks on US military personnel or interests, and are being targeted in strikes attributed to the US or Israel.

The deaths of seven Iraqi soldiers today illustrate the challenge facing the authorities in trying to keep the country out of the regional conflict, while inside the Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation Forces) there are armed factions acting on their own, outside any official framework.

According to a security official quoted by AFP, an airstrike targeted the base in Habaniyah district, in al-Anbar province, where members of the army, police and Hashd al-Shaabi are stationed.

After the bombing, “fire from a fighter jet” targeted the base, mainly a military clinic, the Iraqi defence ministry clarified in a statement, citing seven dead and 13 wounded among its “fighters”.

The attack “is a flagrant and dangerous violation of international law” which prohibits the targeting of medical infrastructures and their personnel,” the ministry said.

In addition, the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office announced that Baghdad will address the UN Security Council, and plans to summon the US chief of staff and the Iranian ambassador for explanations to formally protest the attacks against the Hashdi and Kurdish peshmerga forces.

“A formal complaint, supported by evidence and detailed documentation, will be lodged, (…) in order to assert the rights of Iraq and its people in the face of these violations,” a statement from the office of Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani said.

“Lathos”

Yesterday, the same base was targeted by a “US airstrike”, resulting in the deaths of 15 Hashd al-Shaabi militants.

The attack prompted Iraqi authorities to grant “the right of retaliation and self-defense” to counter attacks targeting “positions and state units of the Popular Mobilization Forces and other armed forces.”

Baghdad denounces both the attacks on Hashd and those targeting foreign military personnel and diplomatic missions on Iraqi soil.

The Pentagon has admitted it has used war helicopters to strike pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq.

The hostilities have extended to the north of the country where six members of the armed forces of Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, the peshmerga, were killed yesterday (Tuesday).

The Iranian authorities have admitted that the deadly ballistic missile strikes against the peshmerga were “a mistake”, Iraqi Kurdistan President Nesirvan Barzani said.

“As soon as the incident occurred, we contacted the Islamic Republic of Iran which admitted that it was a mistake. They pledged to conduct an investigation into the matter (…) and expressed their condolences to Kurdistan,” he added.