Drone Airstrike In Baghdad Kills Two Commanders Of Iran-Backed Militia
A Thursday drone strike in Baghdad killed two commanders of an Iraqi Shia militia supported by Iran, after their vehicle was struck by missiles fired by the drone.
The Harakat al-Najuba (Movement of the Party of God’s Nobles) militia identified the deceased as Mushtaq Talib al-Saeedi, alongside his deputy Ali Nayef. Also known as Abu Taqwa, al-Saeedi was a senior leader of the group, serving as the deputy commander of Baghdad Belt Operations for the Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization for Harakat al-Najuba and other Iran-backed paramilitary forces.
The drone strike struck the vehicle al-Saeedi and Ali Nayef were in as it entered a garage at a Popular Mobilization Forces logistics base in Baghdad. Accounts on the Telegram encrypted messaging application linked to the Popular Mobilization Forces shared photographs and video of what was said to be burnt-out wreckage of the SUV they were in, claiming that two other militiamen were killed and several more wounded in the drone strike.
Iraqi defense ministry spokesperson Major General Yehia Rasool issued a statement accusing the United States-led coalition against the Islamic State of responsibility for the drone strike, claiming that it was “blatant aggression and violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and security”, and a “dangerous escalation and assault on Iraq, diverging from the spirit and the text of the mandate and the mission for which the Global Coalition was established in Iraq”.
While the U.S. has yet to issue a formal statement on the strike or the Iraqi government’s accusations, a U.S. official that spoke on condition of anonymity to Reuters confirmed that the strike had been carried out by American forces, with the drone strike accomplishing its goal of killing the militia leaders.
Another Iran-backed militia group in the PMF, Kata’ib Hezbollah, has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks on Coalition forces in Iraq with drones, artillery rockets, and short-range ballistic missiles. A November AC-130 strike on the militiamen that launched short-range ballistic missiles at al-Asad Air Base in Iraq became the first airstrike the U.S. has conducted in Iraq since 2021, while Kata’ib Hezbollah facilities were bombed in December following a militia drone attack on Erbil Air Base that critically injured an American soldier.
Thursday’s drone strike also comes a day after the fourth anniversary of the death of Qasem Soleimani. Soleimani was also killed in Baghdad, after a U.S. drone struck the vehicle he was in shortly after he departed Baghdad International Airport in the early hours of January 3, 2020.