FILES: A member of the Popular Mobilization Forces stands in a gun-mounted vehicle flying both the PMF and Iraqi flags during a public gathering.
Airstrike on Habbaniyah base kills seven personnel
ANBAR — An airstrike struck a military clinic and works division at Habbaniyah base in Anbar on Wednesday morning, killing seven Iraqi military personnel and wounding 13 others, Iraq’s Defense Ministry said, a day after a strike on the same site killed 15 PMF members including the Anbar operations commander.
The ministry said the 9:00 a.m. strike targeted the Habbaniyah military clinic and works division “followed by aircraft cannon fire,” describing it as “a flagrant and serious violation of all international laws and norms that prohibit targeting medical facilities and their staff.” Rescue teams continued search operations at the site. The ministry said it retains “its full right to take all necessary measures to respond to this aggression.”
Security sources told 964media that a separate earlier strike had hit the PMF intelligence section inside the same base, with casualties and damage not immediately determined.
Tuesday’s strike on Habbaniyah killed PMF Anbar operations commander Saad Daway al-Baiji and 14 others, prompting Prime Minister Sudani to convene an emergency meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security, which authorized a military response to airstrikes on PMF positions and directed the Foreign Ministry to summon the U.S. chargé d’affaires and Iranian ambassador.
The PMF says airstrikes have hit its positions across seven governorates since the regional war began Feb. 28, killing dozens of fighters.
Neither the United States nor Israel has claimed responsibility for any of the strikes.