"Air strikes have killed two fighters from the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in northern Iraq, the paramilitary group says from one of the fronts in the sprawling war engulfing the Middle East. The two attacks targeted PMF positions early on Thursday in the Nineveh region, where Mosul city is located, and a military airport in Salah al-Din province, according to statements from the PMF, a predominantly Shia group that is part of Iraq's security apparatus and includes several groups aligned with Iran."
"Hours before the attacks on PMF fighters, the pro-Iranian armed group Kataib Hezbollah said its secretary-general had issued orders to suspend operations targeting the US embassy in Baghdad for a period of five days. Designated by Washington as a terrorist organisation, Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah listed several conditions of the suspension, including Israel ceasing its bombardment of the southern suburbs of Beirut."
"Iraq has been drawn into the US-Israeli war on Iran, now in its third week. The PMF was formed in 2014 as a volunteer force supporting Iraqi security forces in the fight against ISIL (ISIS). Strikes have targeted Iran-backed groups, which in turn have claimed near-daily attacks on US interests in Iraq and across the region."
Air strikes targeting Popular Mobilisation Forces positions in northern Iraq's Nineveh region and a military airport in Salah al-Din province killed two fighters. The PMF, a predominantly Shia paramilitary group aligned with Iran and part of Iraq's security apparatus, blamed Israel and the United States for the attacks. Iraq faces escalating conflict as a theater in the broader US-Israeli war on Iran. Hours before these strikes, Kataib Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian armed group, announced a conditional five-day suspension of operations targeting the US embassy in Baghdad, demanding Israel cease bombardment of Beirut's southern suburbs and refrain from bombing residential areas in Iraq. Additionally, a drone struck a water treatment station at Umm Qasr naval base in southern Iraq, causing a fire.
#middle-east-conflict #iran-backed-militias #us-israel-military-operations #iraq-security #regional-escalation
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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