Yesterday, Saturday morning, another explosion was reported, this time in the Iraqi province of Babel, at a base – Kalso – of the Popular Mobilization Forces (FMP), an organization that brings together dozens of armed groups that, although integrated into the Iraqi security forces, they also have, at least in large part, a close relationship with Iran.
One member of this organization was killed and eight people were injured, including a regular Iraqi soldier.
The images that began to spread on social networks from one in the morning showed an explosion followed by others even stronger due to the explosion of ammunition. As early as daylight, photos of destroyed buildings, damaged vehicles and a large crater were published. The Iraqi army says it is investigating the events, and the command of the FMP, also known as Haix al-Xabi, spoke of an “indiscriminate” attack. A statement published by this organization accused the United States of the “bombing”, but the US Central Command – Cetcom – denied it. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad Xia al-Sudani, was on an official visit to Washington.
One of the sensitive points in the relationship between the two countries is the role of these organizations close to Iran, which also have a political branch from which they pressure the Government to end the presence of American troops in the country . Washington and Baghdad say they remain in Iraq to support and train Iraqis in the fight against the Islamic State.
Tensions between the Americans and pro-Iranian militias in Iraq reached one of their highest levels in years in January, when an attack attributed to Kataeb Hizbullah (Party of God Brigades) near Tehran struck a US base on the border between Israel and Jordan, killing three soldiers. With the mediation of Iran, a de-escalation was sought that has been maintained until now.
“There were no drones or fighters in Babel’s airspace before or during the explosion,” the Iraqi army said. On Friday night, as alarms began to sound in the Iranian provinces of Tabriz and Esfahan, some unconfirmed explosions were also reported in Iraq.
The same Friday, the Iraqi army reported that it had found parts of missiles that would have been launched towards Iran from probably Israeli fighters. American officials assured ABC television that three missiles had been launched that targeted the area defense system in the province of Esfahan.
Iranian media deny that Israel attacked its territory with missiles, and the few authorities who have spoken about the incident talk about three small drones that alerted Esfahan’s area defense system. The Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amir Abdolahian, who is at the UN headquarters in New York, assured yesterday that Iran still has no indication to attribute this attack to Israel. He referred to small drones that “look like child’s play”.
This is the message being sent from Iran, where the authorities are trying to lower the tension that began to be generated with the Israeli attack on the diplomatic complex in the Syrian capital on April 1 and grew with the response from Tehran, which last weekend launched more than 300 drones and missiles towards Israel. Yesterday, the largest circulation newspaper in Iran carried a cartoon in which Benjamin Netanyahu was seen as a clown operating a tiny drone.
While the Popular Mobilization Forces attributed yesterday’s attack to Washington, the Islamic Resistance – which groups Iraqi forces opposed to the US and Israel – claimed that during the morning it had launched a “retaliatory” attack against a ” vital objective” in the Israeli port of Eilat.
So far no one has attributed yesterday’s attack to Babylon, but many in Iraq add it to the long list of the shadow war that Iran and Israel have been waging for decades.
