Two Hashd fighters killed in Anbar drone attack
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Two members of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) were killed in a drone attack in the Iraqi province of Anbar on Sunday, following a string of attacks against the group’s arms depots.
One other was injured in the incident, according to a Sunday statement from the PMF, also known as Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic.
“Two unidentified drones today targeted a fixed position of Brigade 45 of Hashd al-Shaabi in the Anbar Operations Sector (15 kilometers from Iraq-Syria border), martyring two fighters of Brigade 45, injuring another and burning two vehicles,” Hashd al-Shaabi’s Brigade 45, stationed in Anbar, said in the statement.
The PMF published photos of the two burned vehicles, which included a truck and what appears to be a pickup, alongside the statement.
Two PMF vehicles were targeted and destroyed in the district of Qaim in Anbar province after 6 PM on Sunday evening, Qaim mayor Ahmed Dlemi confirmed to Rudaw.
The attack follows a host of mysterious blasts at arms depots of the Iran-backed group.
On August 20, an explosion engulfed an arms depot of the Iranian-backed PMF militia Kataib Hezbollah, “completely” destroying its weapons store at the depot.
A week earlier, a massive blast rocked an arms depot at the al-Saqr military base belonging to a PMF militia in the Dora neighborhood of Baghdad, killing one person and injuring 13 more.
Initially, negligent weapons storage in scorching Iraqi summer temperatures were blamed for the explosions.
However, in a meeting earlier this month, Iraq’s National Security Council banned unauthorized flights over Iraq’s airspace, indicating that airstrikes had been to blame for the blasts.
Deputy head of the PMF Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis blamed Israel for the string of attacks on August 21, claiming that the US had brought four Israeli drones from Azerbaijan to use against the PMF.
“US are using the drones to target the PMF and Iraqi bases, rather than targeting Daesh [Arabic acronym for Islamic State},” al-Muhandis said in a Facebook post.
In a later statement on Sunday night, PMF's Operations Authority blamed Israel for the drone attack. It also stated that just one of its fighters had been killed, while another was severely injured.
"The evil Israeli crows again targeted Hashd al-Shaabi within the series of Zionist attacks against Iraq, this time through drones, deep inside Iraqi territory in Anbar province […] killing a Mujahid and injuring one more severely," the statement said.
"This assault will not dissuade the forces of Hashd al-Shaabi from undertaking their national role in combatting terror, defending Iraqi land, security, and dignity, and responding to the enemy and its supporters," the PMF vowed.
Israeli Prime Minister Benajamin Netanyahu stoked further speculation of Israeli involvement in the incidents in an August 19 press conference in Ukraine, where he reportedly said “Iran has no immunity anywhere.”
"We will act — and currently are acting — against them [Iran], wherever it is necessary," Netanyahu said, according to The Times of Israel.
Netanyahu reiterated this stance in a Sunday phone call with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, vowing to "strike IRGC targets threatening Israel, wherever they are located," according to a US State Department readout.
"The Secretary [Pompeo] expressed support for Israel's right to defend itself from threats posed by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and to take action to prevent imminent attacks against Israeli assets in the region," the readout read.
It did not specify whether Pompeo supported Israeli airstrikes in Iraq, but did express support for Israeli action against Iranian targets in Syria, where Israel is known to have carried out hundreds of airstrikes against Iranian targets.
Israel is yet to explicitly admit to carrying out airstrikes against Iranian targets in Iraq.
PMF units have various degrees of alignment with Iran. Some, such as al-Nujaba Movement and Kataib Hezbollah, are known to fight in Syria under Iranian leadership to prop up Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s reign.
Updated at 10:11pm