The Iraqi government has condemned attacks carried out by the US on paramilitary forces stationed south of the capital Baghdad, saying they are an attempt to disrupt the stable security situation in the Arab country.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Iraqi government said overnight US airstrikes that killed eight members of the anti-terror resistance group Kata’ib Hezbollah in Jurf al-Sakhar region were “a clear violation of sovereignty” of Iraq and a “dangerous escalation.”
It said that US military officials based in Iraq had not coordinated the operation with authorities in Baghdad, adding that they were a violation of the so-called advisory role of US and international forces to fight remnants of terrorist groups in Iraq.
Kata’ib Hezbollah, which has been targeting US forces in Iraq over the past weeks in response to Washington’s support for an ongoing Israeli aggression on Palestine, said in a statement that it would attack a wider array of targets if US strikes are repeated.
Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), an umbrella group of paramilitary forces which controls Kata’ib Hezbollah, also said that it would never shun its responsibility for defending Iraq’s territorial integrity.
It said four of Kata’ib Hezbollah forces had been injured in the “treacherous attacks” by US forces.
Resistance groups in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Lebanon have been targeting US and Israeli interests in the region since Israel launched a full-scale invasion on the Gaza Strip in early October with direct support from the US.
The groups have threatened to escalate the attacks if the Israeli carnage in Gaza is not stopped.
Kata’ib Hezbollah and other Iraqi groups have launched more than 60 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since the start of the Gaza war.
The US has responded by carrying out two series of attacks on resistance forces in Iraq and three others on their peers in Syria.
