New strikes target Iraq base hosting Iran-backed fighters: source

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Baghdad: New airstrikes hit an Iraqi military base housing the Iran-backed armed group Kataeb Hezbollah on Monday, according to a source from the faction.

“Three strikes hit Jurf al-Nasr,” the source said, referring to a key military base that serves as one of the group’s main strongholds. The base has been repeatedly targeted since the start of the US-Israel campaign against Iran.

Iraq, which has sought to maintain stability after years of conflict and has often been a proxy battleground between Washington and Tehran, has said it does not want to be drawn into the escalating war.

However, several Iran-aligned Iraqi factions operating under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, including Kataeb Hezbollah, have said they would not remain “neutral” and would act in defence of Iran.

A group calling itself Saraya Awliyaa al-Dam (Guardians of Blood), which claims affiliation with the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, said on Telegram that it carried out drone attacks early Monday on Baghdad airport.

In a separate incident in Iraq’s northern Kurdistan region, an AFP photographer saw air defence systems intercept at least two drones near Erbil airport.

Since the start of the US-Israel campaign on Iran, drones have repeatedly been intercepted over Erbil, which hosts US-led coalition forces and a major US consulate complex.

(With inputs from AFP)