US strike kills 15 Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces members in Anbar

Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said that 15 of its members, including operations commander for the Anbar region, Saad Duwa, were killed in a US strike on an operations site on Tuesday. "The Popular Mobilization Forces mourn a group of heroic fighters who were killed alongside the Anbar Operations commander in the PMF, the martyred commander Dr. Saad Duwai, as a result of a treacherous US targeting that struck the operations headquarters," the group said in a statement posted on Facebook.

PMF status

The PMF is an official Iraqi security umbrella established in 2014 following a religious edict by top cleric Ali al-Sistani to confront the ISIS (Daesh) terrorist group and was later integrated into the armed forces by a government decision in 2016. The group operates under Iraqi government authority, making the strike on its headquarters a direct attack on Iraqi state-aligned forces.

Conflict context

Recent attacks targeting the group, which have resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries among its members, come amid the ongoing war launched by Israel and the United States on Iran since Feb. 28. While the PMF is an official Iraqi force, it includes factions with close ties to Iran, and US strikes on the group have repeatedly strained relations between Washington and Baghdad.

Regional escalation

The strike comes as the US-Israeli war with Iran continues into its fifth week, with over 1,300 killed in Iran according to Iranian authorities. Iran has retaliated with strikes targeting Israel and Gulf states, while Iraq has faced repeated attacks on both US assets and Iranian-aligned groups. The targeting of a senior PMF commander raises concerns about further escalation in Iraq.