An air strike on a military base in Iraq's Anbar province has killed seven fighters and wounded 13, in what Baghdad said was "a heinous crime" and a serious violation of international law, amid a spike in US attacks on Iraqi security forces and militias.
The strikes targeted a military healthcare facility at Habbaniyah base, with Iraqi officials saying the site was used by both the army and the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) , which has been recently integrated into the army.
A police source said the attack hit positions linked to the PMF, which have come under growing US targeting in recent weeks due to their alignment with Iran and their suspected targeting of the US embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone, Baghdad International Airport logistics hub, and bases in Kurdistan and Anbar used by foreign forces, including US teams.
Iraqi officials said the group was targeted in a double-tap strike, with a follow-up bombardment hitting the same site.
The latest strike follows a deadlier attack a day earlier which killed more than 25 PMF members, including senior commander Saad Dawai and senior intelligence official Wathiq al-Fartousi, marking one of the most significant escalations inside Iraq since the war on Iran began on 28 February.
Iraq’s Ministry of Defence said the targeting of a military medical facility represents a "heinous crime" and a serious breach of international law, warning of a widening pattern of strikes hitting state-linked forces, including PMF positions across Anbar, Salahuddin, Nineveh and Baghdad.
Figures cited by officials within the PMF indicate that nearly 100 strikes have targeted their sites since the escalation began, killing more than 65 fighters and wounding over 130.
In response, Iraq's Ministerial Council for National Security, chaired by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, authorised the PMF and other security forces to act under the principle of self-defence.
A PMF official told AFP the group can now directly respond to incoming threats, including aircraft and drones, after previously lacking clearance to engage.
Iraqi Prime Minister al-Sudani stressed that Iraq alone holds the authority over decisions of war and peace, warning that no party would be allowed to act outside the state framework.
At the same time, Baghdad is preparing to file a complaint with the UN Security Council over repeated violations of its sovereignty, and has summoned both the US chargé d’affaires and the Iranian ambassador, handing formal protest notes over strikes that also hit PMF sites in Anbar and Kurdish Peshmerga positions in Erbil.
Meanwhile, armed factions aligned with the PMF have escalated their own response, claiming dozens of attacks across Iraq and the region, including Iraqi-Kurdistan.
A group calling itself Saraya Awliya al-Dam said it carried out 136 attacks in 22 days, including a drone strike in Sulaymaniyah, which it claimed targeted sites hosting Israeli Mossad officers, while the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said it launched 23 drone and missile attacks in a single day, including on a US base in Baghdad.
The escalation has also spilled across borders, with rockets launched from Iraqi territory striking a military site in northeastern Syria.
Several Iraqi officers have been detained for failing to prevent the attack after the launcher passed through multiple checkpoints.