Iraq says U.S. airstrikes meant to weaken Iraqi forces

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Security men work amid the destruction after the U.S. warplanes carried out an airstrike on the headquarters of Hashd al-Shaabi in Al-Qaim City of Anbar, Iraq, February 3, 2024. /CFP

Falih al-Fayyadh, chairman of the Iraqi paramilitary Hashd Shaabi Forces, said Sunday that U.S. airstrikes on its bases in western Iraq were meant to weaken the group and stop it from protecting the country.

Al-Fayyadh made the remarks at a funeral for some of the 16 militiamen killed in the U.S. strikes late Friday on the al-Qaim area and the nearby Akashat area in Anbar province near Iraq's border with Syria. The strikes also wounded 36 others.

He said the U.S. targeted the militia's facilities, including a hospital and administrative offices, as well as its forces deployed to fight terrorism and guard the border.

Al-Fayyadh accused the U.S. of lying about supporting Iraq in its fight against terrorism, saying, "It (the U.S.) is plotting to weaken and neutralize our forces to prevent them from carrying out their basic duties to this country."

He also called on the Iraqi prime minister to "defend Iraq's sovereignty and dignity" while stressing that "this will not be done except by the departure of these (foreign) forces from the land of Iraq," urging to "purge Iraq of every foreign presence."

The U.S. Central Command said in a statement on Friday that the U.S. forces hit more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria belonging to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and allied militias.

The U.S. strikes were in retaliation for attacks by Iranian-backed groups that recently killed three U.S. troops in northeastern Jordan, which marked the first U.S. fatalities in the region since the Israel-Hamas conflict broke out on October 7, 2023.

(With input from Xinhua)