Iraq’s prime minister on Wednesday instructed the country’s foreign ministry to summon the U.S. Embassy’s chargé d’affaires in Baghdad amid rising tensions over a deadly strike on an Iraqi military base.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Sudani directed the ministry to deliver a “strongly worded letter of protest,” according to a statement from his office. Iraq also intends to lodge a formal complaint with the United Nations Security Council regarding the attack, according to a statement.
It came hours after a strike in the western province of Anbar killed seven members of the Iraqi army, according to a statement from the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. The ministry said that the Habbaniyah military base and its medical clinic had been hit, and that in addition the deaths, 13 people were injured.
The attack came a day after a separate strike on the same base, which hosts units of the former paramilitary Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization for militias that include Iranian-backed brigades. They are officially part of Iraq’s security apparatus but are viewed by the United States as allies of Iran.
The group blamed Tuesday’s strike on the United States. Iranian-backed militias have attacked U.S. forces in the region, prompting retaliatory U.S. strikes.
“We emphasize that the government and the armed forces reserve the right to respond by all available means as sanctioned by the United Nations Charter,” a spokesman for Mr. al-Sudani’s office, Sabah al-Numan, said in a statement.
No party has yet claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s strike.
Iraq is one of several Middle Eastern countries caught up in a cycle of violence that intensified after the United States and Israel launched military operations against Iran on Feb. 28.
Since then, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed armed factions, has claimed responsibility for drone and missile attacks on American bases in Iraq and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, as well as on a logistical support center at Baghdad Airport.
Ismaeel Naar is an international reporter for The Times, covering the Gulf states. He is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
The post Iraq Summons U.S. Diplomat After Attack on Military Base appeared first on New York Times.
