New strikes hit a military base in Iraq housing the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah group on Monday, while air defences in the Kurdish city of Erbil intercepted drone attacks.
“One fighter was martyred and another wounded in fresh bombing on the Jurf al-Nasr base,” a Kataeb Hezbollah source told AFP, after several strikes hit the facility earlier in the day.
The base serves as one of the main bastions of the powerful armed group, and has been targeted several times since the start of the Israel-US campaign against Iran.
Iraq, which has recently regained a sense of stability but has long been a proxy battleground between the United States (US) and Iran, said it did not want to be dragged into the war.
But it has not been spared.
From the early hours of the campaign against Iran, strikes blamed on the US and Israel hit Iran-backed groups, which have vowed retaliation.
Iraqi foreign minister Fuad Hussein said Monday “Iran continues to bomb areas in the Kurdistan region, especially Erbil, while the opposing side targets sites in southern and western Iraq,” without directly naming Israel and the US.
On Sunday, nine Iran-backed fighters were killed in separate strikes, including five from Kataeb Hezbollah.
Several Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups, known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, including Kataeb Hezbollah, have said they will not stay ‘neutral’ and will defend the Islamic republic.
Since the start of the US-Israel campaign against Iran, drones have repeatedly been intercepted over Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region, which hosts US-led coalition troops and a major US consulate complex.
Loud bangs were heard Monday as air defence systems downed drones near the Erbil airport, where foreign troops are deployed, AFP journalists said.
The French embassy in Baghdad advised its nationals on Monday to leave Iraqi Kurdistan via Turkey, according to a message sent to French citizens there and seen by AFP.
It also advised nationals in Baghdad to stay put.
The US mission in Baghdad said on Monday it has directed US nationals and mission personnel to she
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