PMF condemns US airstrikes, says fighters were not deep inside Syrian territory

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi in Arabic)  denied on Sunday its fighters were deep inside Syrian territory after dozens of its members were killed in US airstrikes on Thursday. 

According to a PMF statement shared to Telegram by the Iraqi Security Media cell on Sunday, the PMF said it had held off to have the “full story” before commenting on the attack, adding that "contrary to US reports," PMF fighters who were killed were not positioned deep inside Syrian territory. 

“We officially announce that this attack heralds dangerous future developments, and the competent authorities must do their duty for the PMF who sacrifice [themselves] for the sake of Iraq's security,” the PMF stated.

A committee has started investigating the incident, it added.

The umbrella network of Shiite militia groups was formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) following a fatwa from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani. A number of groups within its ranks are close to Iran, and attack US positions throughout Iraq. 

The US Defense Department on Friday said it had carried out airstrikes at a Syria-Iraq border control point used by Iranian-backed militias, destroying "multiple facilities." The strikes came in response to recent attacks against American and Coalition personnel in Iraq, and to ongoing threats to those personnel, according to spokesperson John Kirby. 

Kirby said the location was used by Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, both part of the PMF. 

Twenty-two militiamen were killed in the strikes, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported.

The Pentagon said that the operation was carried out with intelligence from Baghdad, which helped determine the militia groups behind several rocket attacks targeting the US presence in Iraq. Iraq denied involvement in the airstrikes. 

US forces have come under repeated attack since Washington's assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in a January 2020 airstrike, also killing Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, the Iraqi deputy of the PMF.

Iraq's parliament passed a non-binding resolution in favor of expelling foreign troops after the assassinations.