Al Jazeera

by Al Jazeera

    US and Saudi forces launch attacks on Iran-aligned groups in Iraq in retaliation for “30 IRGC-directed” drone attacks in the past 30 days, including on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.

    The claim came shortly after the US also accused Iran of firing multiple ballistic missiles in “an attempted surprise attack” on its forces at a base in Jordan.

    Iran has warned it will take “any action”, including resuming war, to keep control of the Strait of Hormuz.

    US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held “positive and productive” talks, the White House says.

27 Updates

What is Iraq’s PMF

By Ali Mustafa

    The Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), or al-Hashd al-Shaabi, is an umbrella of mostly Shia armed groups, some with close ties to Tehran, numbering an estimated 238,000 fighters.

    Some of the groups trace their roots to the Iraqi resistance against US occupation.

    The alliance emerged in 2014 after Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani issued a fatwa urging Iraqis to help repel ISIL (ISIS), which then controlled territory across Iraq and Syria roughly the size of England, including Mosul.

    Formally integrated into Iraq’s armed forces in 2016, the PMF includes groups such as Kataib Hezbollah, the al-Nujaba movement, Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada and Kataeb Imam Ali, among others.

    These groups also unite under a loose alliance called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.

    After the US and Israel’s war on Iran began, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed near-daily attacks on the “enemy” in Iraq and the region, including US bases and diplomatic missions.

    The US military has also hit PMF bases that host Iran-aligned groups several times, killing dozens of troops.

    The sudden attack coincides with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House and comes after a five-day pause in the war.

Iran missiles target US forces in Jordan after a five-day pause in war

Houthis claim downing of Saudi reconnaissance drone over Saada

    Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group says it shot down a Saudi reconnaissance drone early this morning over the Saada governorate with an “appropriate weapon”.

    In a statement on his Telegram channel, Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, said the “Karayel” type drone was targeted “while it was carrying out hostile actions in the airspace of Saada governorate”.

    He added that the group “will continue to protect the country’s sovereignty” and it is their “legitimate right to respond to any violation”.

Smoke rises in Iraq’s Nineveh, Basra after US-Saudi strikes

    Videos verified by Al Jazeera show flames and smoke in northern Nineveh province, as well as columns of thick smoke rising in the southern Basra province following the US-Saudi strikes.

    The clips also showed firefighters arriving at the targeted site in Basra.

    As we’ve been reporting, Iraq’s paramilitary Popular Mobilisation Forces said its headquarters across Iraq were hit in the joint US-Saudi strikes, while the group’s command in Nineveh said at least eight members have been killed and four more wounded in the attacks.

    We’ll bring you more when we have it.

    Translation: Explosions and rising smoke in the Al-Deir district, Basra governorate, southern Iraq.

Houthis condemn US-Saudi attacks on Iraq’s PMF

    Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis have condemned the US-Saudi attacks on Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces.

    “We consider it a heinous, cowardly, and illegitimate aggression that violates all international laws and charters, and it is a blatant assault on Iraqi sovereignty and an assault on the Iraqi people in all their components and orientations,” the Houthis said in a statement published by Al Masirah TV.

‘This is a major escalation by both Iran and the United States’

By Alan Fisher

Reporting from Washington, DC, US

    There’s been no official reaction yet from the White House, State Department, or Pentagon.

    What we do have is a statement from CENTCOM saying it intercepted a number of ballistic missiles headed towards US bases in the Middle East.

    Local reporting suggests the target was the US airbase in Jordan that suffered three fatalities recently.

    CENTCOM also issued a separate statement, saying that, acting with Saudi Arabia, it had struck a number of sites in Iraq linked to proxies believed to be acting for the IRGC who had been sending drones to target US allies and US forces in the region.

    CENTCOM says those sites were destroyed. It’s not quite clear yet whether the strikes in Iraq were a response to the missile attack, or vice versa. We should get more details in the coming hours.

    What is clear is that this is a major escalation by both Iran and the United States. We’ve had essentially five days of no attacks between the two to allow peace talks to begin. Trump said those talks were “very good”, but warned he wasn’t going to wait forever for the Iranians and that, if they didn’t reach a deal, or if he judged the talks weren’t serious, then there would be a significant military response.

    We’ll now wait to see whether Trump orders any response to Iran’s latest attack.

US-Saudi attacks kill 8 Iraqi PMF troops in Nineveh

    The Iraqi armed group’s command in Nineveh says eight of its members have been killed in the joint Saudi-US strikes in the northern province.

    It said four others were wounded.

    We’ll bring you more when we get it.

Iraq’s PMF condemns US-Saudi strikes as ‘dangerous escalation’

    Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) armed group says US and Saudi forces have attacked its headquarters across various regions of Iraq, resulting in several casualties and damage to its facilities.

    In a statement, the PMF said the attacks represent a “highly dangerous escalation” and a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and official security institutions.

    It added that relevant authorities are monitoring the situation on the ground while damage assessments and casualty counts remain ongoing.

Iran rejects Oman’s Hormuz proposal, demands partial control of Omani route

    We can now bring you more on the exchange of proposals between Iran and Oman regarding the management of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.

    Kazem Gharibabadi, the deputy Iranian foreign minister, told state TV that Tehran has rejected Oman’s proposal to split transit routes equally between the two countries. Instead, he said, Tehran proposed managing shipping on its side of the strait, while Muscat would manage part but not all of the opposite lane.

    “Oman proposed to us the creation of a route in the Strait of Hormuz, with 50 percent of it located in our territorial waters and 50 percent in Omani territorial waters. The route for ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz could involve entering through our waters and exiting through Omani territorial waters,” he said.

    “Our proposal to Oman is that part of the transit route in the Strait of Hormuz be within our territorial waters, and that the part of the route passing through Omani waters also be under our control.”

    Gharibabadi said the strait will remain closed if Oman rejects the plan.

    Revolutionary Guard spokesperson Ebrahim Zolfaghari warned that any vessel taking such money would be banned from transiting the Strait of Hormuz.