26 IRAQI MILITIA KILLED IN SYRIA AFTER DEADLY IRAQ BASE ATTACK

Thu 12 March 2020:

An air strike killed 26 fighters of Iraqi paramilitary group Hashed al-Shaabi in eastern Syria after a deadly attack on US-led coalition troops in Iraq, a war monitor said Thursday.

Updating its toll for the Wednesday strike, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it was probably carried out by the coalition.

The coalition did not immediately provide comment.

Before the strike near the border town of Albu Kamal, rockets were fired at a military base north of Baghdad hosting coalition troops, killing two Americans and one Briton.

It was the deadliest such attack in years on an Iraqi military base hosting foreign troops.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the United States has blamed Iran-backed factions from the Hashed al-Shaabi for similar violence in recent months.

The strikes came just hours after rockets were fired at a military base in Iraq, killing two Americans and one Briton.

Ten rockets hit the military base in the 22nd attack against American military interests in Iraq since late October, an Iraqi military commander said earlier.

The attack against the Taji base wounded foreign coalition members, a coalition official told AFP late on Wednesday, describing the injuries as ranging from “light to critical”.

Previous rocket attacks targeting US soldiers, diplomats and facilities in Iraq have killed one US contractor and an Iraqi soldier.

None of the attacks have been claimed, but Washington accuses pro-Iran factions of being responsible.

Two days after the death of an American in rockets fired on an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk at the end of last year, the US army hit five bases in Iraq and Syria used by the pro-Iran armed faction Kataeb Hezbollah.

Tensions then rose further between arch foes Washington and Tehran, leading to the assassination in Baghdad on January 3 of the powerful Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani and an Iraqi paramilitary commander in a US drone strike.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!