Baghdad Suspects Israeli Role in Strikes on Militia Arms Depots
Authorities say the attacks hit warehouses storing Chinese-made air defense systems, with five injured in a recent blast in the capital.
By Aiko Soto ·
Iraqi officials believe Israel carried out recent attacks on two sites where Iranian-backed militias kept shoulder-fired air defense systems of Chinese origin, according to sources cited Saturday by the London-based paper Asharq Al-Awsat. The report did not identify the specific weapons model and admitted that parts of the claims remained unverified.
One source noted that the armed group selected storage locations it deemed difficult to reach or detect. The strikes occurred last week, shortly after the shipments arrived at both sites. The newspaper linked a separate explosion on October 17 at a Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) base in Baghdad’s East Canal area to the same pattern of targeting.
The PMF, a paramilitary body that includes many Iranian-backed militias, described the October 17 blast as an accident involving a stockpile of obsolete ammunition. The incident injured five people. Iraqi authorities promised an investigation, but an anonymous official said the inquiry was still ongoing more than a week after the event.
Sources indicated that the mid-October incident followed an earlier event on October 1, when warehouses linked to Iran-backed groups in and around Baghdad were struck. These sites reportedly held drones intended for suicide attacks and reconnaissance. A security official stated that while the nature of the strikes was not fully determined, evidence pointed to Israeli responsibility.
This is not the first time Iraq has suspected Israeli involvement in regional strikes. Militias previously blamed Israel for attacks in 2019 and a strike near Albukamal, Syria. In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had established a secret airstrip in Iraq during its campaign against Iran. Unconfirmed accounts also suggest Israeli jets have flown through Iraqi airspace near the Iranian border with midair refueling support.
The newspaper connected the strikes to earlier reports of China supplying weapons to Iran, a link China’s Foreign Ministry denied on July 28. Since the United States and Israel began airstrikes in February, Iran has sought to use Iraq as a frontline. It has conducted more than 1,000 strikes on the Kurdistan Region and 600 attacks across Iraq, some targeting U.S. diplomatic sites. The U.S. withdrew its forces from Iraq on September 30.
A source in the Shi’ite Coordination Framework said ruling party leaders had predicted that renewed war between Washington and Tehran would begin with the destruction of Iraqi faction capabilities. Most major PMF groups, excluding the Badr Organization, are sanctioned by the U.S. as terrorist organizations. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq recently claimed that Iraqi airspace was being violated.
