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An Iraqi fighter was killed on Saturday following airstrikes on military bases belonging to the former paramilitary coalition Hashed al-Shaabi in northern Iraq, authorities confirmed.
The government’s security media cell said that unidentified aircraft struck the 40th brigade of the Hashed al-Shaabi, also known as the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF). A second strike targeted another base in the northern province of Nineveh.
According to officials, one fighter was killed and three others wounded in the attacks, although authorities did not specify which of the strikes caused the casualties. Earlier, a PMF official told AFP that “an airstrike, likely American, hit a Hashed base” housing the 40th brigade south of the city of Mosul. The official later confirmed that the strike resulted in casualties.
The Hashed al-Shaabi is an alliance of armed factions that has since been incorporated into Iraq’s regular armed forces. Bases linked to the group have been struck several times since the outbreak of the wider Middle East conflict, with attacks often targeting Tehran-backed armed groups.
Several pro-Iran factions operate brigades within the Hashed al-Shaabi structure, though they are widely believed to carry out independent operations.
These factions are also part of the loose coalition known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has declared that it will not remain neutral in the ongoing war and has claimed responsibility for attacks on United States bases in Iraq and across the region.
Iraq, long considered a proxy battleground between the United States and Iran, has said it does not wish to be drawn further into the escalating Middle East conflict. However, the country has not escaped its impact.
Since the conflict began, Iraq has been pulled into the crisis through a series of strikes attributed to the United States and Israel targeting Iran-backed groups operating within its borders.
