Militia leader vows to retaliate for U.S. strike
BAGHDAD — The leader of an Iranbacked Iraqi militia has vowed to retaliate against America for the deaths of four of his men in a U.S. air strike along the IraqSyria border last month, saying it will be a military operation everyone will talk about.
Abu Alaa alWalae, commander of Kataib Sayyid alShuhada, said in an exclusive interview with the Associated Press in Baghdad that the electoral victory of Iran’s hardline judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi as president will strengthen Iranbacked militant groups throughout the Middle East for the next four years.
AlWalae, who rarely gives interviews to foreign media organizations, spoke in an office in a Baghdad neighborhood along the Tigris River.
On June 27, U.S. Air Force planes carried out air strikes near the IraqSyria border against what the Pentagon said were facilities used by Iranbacked militia groups to support drone strikes inside Iraq. Four militiamen were killed.
The Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi statesanctioned umbrella of mostly Shiite militias — including those targeted by the U.S. strikes — said their men were on missions to prevent infiltration by the Islamic State and denied the presence of weapons warehouses. U.S. troops in eastern Syria came under rocket fire the day after the air strikes, with no reported casualties.
The U.S. has blamed Iranbacked militias for attacks — most of them rocket strikes — that have targeted the American presence in Baghdad and military bases across Iraq. More recently, the attacks have become more sophisticated, with militants using drones.
U.S. military officials have grown increasingly alarmed over drone strikes targeting U.S. military bases in Iraq, more common since a U.S. drone killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani near the Baghdad airport last year. Iraqi militia leader Abu Mahdi alMuhandis also was killed in the attack. The strike drew the ire of mostly Shiite Iraqi lawmakers and prompted parliament to pass a nonbinding resolution to pressure the Iraqi government to oust foreign troops from the country.
In midApril, an explosivesladen drone targeted the military section of the international airport in Irbil, in Iraq’s northern Kurdishrun region, causing no casualties or damages. The base also hosts American troops.
U.S. officials said Iranbacked militias have conducted at least five drone attacks since April.
On Monday, a drone was shot down near the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad. There were no casualties. Two U.S. military officials said the drone was launched by Iranian proxies, adding that it was weaponized with explosives and was loitering over the U.S.led coalition base in Baghdad.
Iranbacked fighters from throughout the region have joined Syria’s conflict, helping tip the balance of power in President Bashar Assad’s favor. Thousands of Iranbacked fighters remain in Syria, many of them deployed close to the Iraqi border in the towns of Boukamal and Mayadeen.