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The already strained relations between the US and Iraq are deteriorating further, after the US struck units, part of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) on the evening of December 29th. According to the reports, at least 25 were killed and 51 were injured as a result of the US strikes on five positions of Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH).
KH is a core group of the PMU, which is the most military capable force in Iraq, they are the force primarily behind the defeat of ISIS in many areas of the country, and are an official part of the Iraqi Armed Forces.
The US carried out “precision defensive strikes” on its formal ally in the face of the Iraqi government and its armed forces, with the pretext that they are backed by Iran, and are allegedly ‘terrorists’.
The US airstrike came in response to a shelling on the K1 military camp, hosting US-led forces. The shelling took place on December 27th, and several US troops were injured, while 1 US defense contractor was killed.
The US accused Iran, as well as Iranian-linked militants for carrying out the attack, and specifically the PMU, despite having no evidence that either had anything to do with it. Washington’s forces then carried out the strikes in follow up of their accusations.
Earlier in December, rockets were fired at two Iraqi air bases where American forces are stationed. Seven rockets struck the perimeter of the Al Asad base, and five projectiles landed inside Balad. At Al Asad, the Iraqi army later found a truck rigged to fire rockets with seven empty tubes and eight unfired projectiles.
Iraqi troops were even injured in strikes on a facility near the Baghdad International Airport.
In response to the US airstrikes, Iraqi President Barham Salih has condemned Washington’s attacks on Kata’ib Hezbollah. Salih decried the attacks as being unacceptable and damaging for the country, adding that the strikes were contrary to security agreements inked between Baghdad and Washington.
Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, also said that Adel Abdul-Mahdi, currently Iraq’s caretaker prime minister, has voiced his opposition to the attacks in a message to US Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
“Bombing PMU bases is a dangerous aggravation which endangers the security of Iraq and the region,” Iraqi media sources cited Abdul-Mahdi.
Factions within the PMU issued an official threat to the US for a military response. A spokesman for Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, which is part of the PMU, said that the group considered the American aggression against PMU sites in the Iraqi-Syrian borders as an expression of the failure of its agendas.
The statement, furthermore, said that the American aggression is condemned and a violation that requires all Iraqis to stand with strength and solidity.
The group furthermore said that the US presence in Iraq was unwanted and that it was actually beneficial to ISIS and other terrorist groups.
Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Units and the head of Kata’ib Hezbollah, vowed that the American forces in Iraq would face a “harsh response.”
The Popular Mobilization Units said, in a statement, following the American attack, that the attack targeted the leadership of the Al-Jazeera operations sector in Anbar Province and the location of the 45th and 46th Brigades.
The Director of the Movements Directorate in the Popular Mobilization Units, Jawad Kazim Hussain, confirmed that the 45th and 46th Brigades are affiliated with the Al-Jazeera Operations Command for the Popular Mobilization and their mission is to defend Iraq from the western side.
Hussein said that “the 45th and 46th Brigades, which are located in the western borders of Iraq, are under the command of Al-Jazeera Operations for the Popular Mobilization Units and their duty is defensive in coordination with the rest of the security forces and instructs the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces.”
He added, “The American targeting yesterday night aims to obstruct the security plans and measures taken to prevent ISIS’s criminal infiltration into and out of Iraqi territory.”
Yemen’s Houthis issued a statement on the US actions in Iraq.
Ansar Allah’s (Houthis) Political Bureau condemned the American aggression on the Popular Mobilization Units sites, considering the attack as a brutal attack on Iraq and its forces. They said that they are opposoing the devastating American project in the region.
The Houthis further said that the time had come for all forces and parties in Iraq to unite against a “grave threat in their country.”
On December 23rd, an Ambassador appointed by Yemen’s Houthis to Tehran Ibrahim Dailami has signed a military cooperation deal with Iran, in the first such formal deal between the two parties.
“The group’s ambassador conveyed the greetings from the Minister of Defense in Sana’a, Major General Mohammad El-Atefi, and the Chief-of-Staff, Major General Mohammad Al-Ghammari, to the Iranian Minister of Defence,” praising “the cooperative relations that link the two countries at various levels and the Iranian position towards aggression against Yemen,” the Houthi affiliated Al-Masirah TV reported.
Thus, with the Houthis, Iran and the Iraqi Armed Forces, it is possible that Washington should brace for a response.
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An independent government wouldwou request the US military to leave they nation and yet no such act take place…Iraq might not find peace for another 10 years or more .
The Zionists want to drag the dimwit Americans deeper and deeper into the regional morass.
the unhinged states of america’s situation in Iraq is getting more untenable by the minute and it will soon be indefensible and they will have to withdraw to somewhere else – israel or saudi maybe, but they are sort of digging their own effing grave in the middle east which is fortunate for the world and for the peace since israel and peace is an oxymoron. even the moronic leadership in washington dc is getting to such understanding.
Bomb the satanic KIKE scum……
Accord Iraq shia sources 4 killed in the US airstrike!…ISIS have been defeated and they dont have capabilities to take control of Iraqi cities…therefore we will see a guerrilla war between shia militia vs US troops..and as we can see during 2003-2010….USA will be defeated and expelled!
3 sleeping children were also killed as these are just Shia soldiers and their family quarters that were bombed by stand off missiles in the middle of the night. The PMU are just citizen soldiers who are part of the Iraqi military, just like the Yemeni army is Zaidi Shia and tribal and Lebanese army is mostly Shia/Hezbollah as they are the majority of the population and alienating them will prove very deadly as time will surely tell. The images of dead Iraqi Shia will certainly create retribution.
US in its arrogance and Zionist inspired hubris is about to open a very violent Pandora’s box that is already uniting all factions in Iraq. The US strike mostly killed civilians, including three children as the PMU are basically Iraqi Shia soldiers and their families and bombing their residential quarters from 30,000 feet in the middle of the night will hardly inspire a deep affection for the US cowardly barbarian occupiers. All Shia Iraqi factions will now unite as AMAL and Hezbollah did in Lebanon and all Yemeni factions did. US is the most reviled occupation force in the region and the pay back will be very costly in 2020.
I think they probably forgot that Kataib Hezbollah alongside Asaib al-Haq is the same ones who were resisting their occupation back in the day and posting videos of ambushes and IED’s back… An attack like this is a clear declaration of war.
Their experience means nothing considering the US can just sit back and airstrike their positions across Iraq and inflict numerous casualties.
Ohhh there is more than one way to hurt the US. If the Iraqis want they cant hurt the US where it really hurts, the oil.
If you idiots keep pissing them off , it will happen, because of your own stupidity.
The stupidy of the US continues… Lately the Leader ‘Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba’ talked during an interview about his meeting with Hassan Nasrallah and the IRGCs about how they shared with him about all the valuable experience that Hezbollah/Iran gained during the years of guerrila fighting. If they managed to kick 250.000 Troops in the begining of their armed resistance, im pretty sure it’s not going to be as hard as the first time.
If you missed it, it won’t hurt the US in terms of oil since the US no longer needs Mideast oil. It will hurt Europe and Japan and especially China.
What about countless exposed US garrisons in range of thousands of cheap rockets as well as hundreds of more sophisticated SRBMs then, have you thought about the disposition of forces on the ground ? you speak like the US has no boots or valuable and highly vulnerable infrastructure,assets and interest there. Retaliation from the ground is entirely possible in such a scenario of overt mass bombings by the US.
Anyway your Colin Powell doctrine 101 is exactly what some wise asses thought in Tsahal’s commanding circles back in 2006, and look how it ended. Oh, and some US general in Vietnam, too. Oh, and in Iraq, too, after 8 years of a direly costly and ultimately failed occupation period.
He is a Hasbara troll, talking sense to him is like talking to a brick wall.
Maybe, but there won’t be an Iran left.
Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, let alone Vietnam are pretty much all standing to this day mate, quit the cheap one-liners. They survived and built back despite tremendous suffering inflicted at every level of their society and lives by US or Israeli military machine depending on the case. It won’t be any different for Iran that will be no less resilient if it ever comes to blows.
Are you sure? that’s not what you Israeli coward defence did when they heard that Hezbollah is going to kill somebody… xD pussys ran away more than 5km away from the lebanese Borders.
Issam, the day Israel hits Lebanon with all we’ve got, is the day Lebanese will regret they ever supported Hezbollah. I tried to have a normal conversation with you, but I understood you’re just another fanatic shia. Be my guest Issam, shoot your rockets over here, but once we strike back DO NOT DARE to ask for a ceasefire. We shall meet again for the final war, Inshallah.
“fanatic” you should be careful using with that word, remember what you’ve said, ‘if the Gazan or Southern Lebanese populations help Hamas / Hezbollah during wartime, then they need to be targeted aswell’ – that’s not common sense, that’s a war crime. I’m sorry that i’ve hurt your feeling by insulting your IDF, but i’ve only described what went down and the whole world witnessed that. I still don’t understand why are you so obsessed with Rockets xD, calm down jeez.But if you insist, 150 precision missiles are enough to destroy all of israel military infrastructures and the daily cost to intercept missiles in any war with Hezbollah is more than 1.3b per day and clearly “israel” is not willing to go there… that gullible notion of a clear and quick victory has long past it’s time. I’m not going to argue with you anymore as i clearly understand your point of view as you understand mine. and repeating that fanatic IDF officials statements are way beneath you to be honest. PS: Disqus notifications don’t work for me anymore so don’t bother responding to me because there is a high change i won’t go back to this article.
Not with precision drones and missiles provided to the militias by Iran. You seems to have forgotten that patriot missile defense could not protect Saudi Arabia from a Houthi strike on September 14th. You seem also to have forgotten that it is easier for Iran to transfer these weapons and technology to Iraq than Yemen. If the houthis could do that, so can the iraqi militias. No air-defense system in Iraq can protect US forces.
You don’t just impose draconian sanctions on Iran and expect to sit back and watch without any consequences. Trump in his arrogance has bitten more than he can chew. There will certainly be a high cost to pay for those sanctions before November 2020.
The Iranians have finally managed to trick the US into starting a second war in Iraq. In the coming days, America’s military casualties will rise sharply when the precision missiles begin to fly – just like what the saudi forces are experiencing, only the one in Iraq will be on a much larger scale. Iraq is a target-rich battle field, hosting at least 5000 US troops. There are also US troops and assets in Kuwait.
Maybe, but Iran itself is way more target rich and if they take a step too far there won’t be much left of Iran. The US and Israel are not Saudi Arabia.
So why doesn’t the U.S. just do that? Or is it not quite so easy after all?
Striking the PMU looks like an attempt to aid Isis on the Syria/Iraq border – how does the US know they were the ones that carried out the base attack & not some Isis cell or more likely they dont care
Not gonna help the Yid scum…..
To every Action there is an Re-Action
Fuck the evil KIKES who started this whole mess…….
You don’t like Christianity?
Hamas Fatah Hezbollah Syria Iraq allways threaten to heavily retaliate against Israel, US ……but usually nothing happens. I hope this will change in 2020
You have false hope.
sniping on americans and/or israelis in tit for tats can’t be all that hard!
So go try it big guy and get your Darwin Award and improve humanity.
We need “Juba” in action again
It’s on now, unfortunately.
Now Trump (or the deep state) have got themselves another war “they will never understand”
Start sending the POS ameri3kan war criminals home in body bags!!!! That’s all they understand!!!
and bury the squatters 6 feet under unless they voluntarily abandon the land they illegally occupy – it’s urgent.
Are they going to cry as a response? Because over 20 of their Shia terrorists were neutralized and dozens wounded in one USAF attack.
Yes, 1st they’ll cry, then get the U.S. to start sending full body bags home.
So far, seems most all the hundreds of body bags in Iraq and Syria have been sent back to Iran and Lebanon or left at home in Syria and Iraq. Not a one to Israel. Think on that.
haha these mullah monkeys wont do a darn thing. Iran is a paper tiger. No response will be happening since they’ve learned their lesson the hard way! :-]
We shall see
Whereas the U.S. is a really tough cookie, huh, winning war after war, like Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Vietnam. Yep, definitely a toothed tiger, and a real winner at that. Thanks for bringing that to our attention.
Iraq, buy Bavar-373, build Iran oil pipelines to Syria and pay Bavars by protecting the pipelines with regular army. Would be a good answer