Iraq authorizes PMF self-defense
Decision raises risk of escalation with US and regional actors
Iraq’s National Security Council has authorized the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), known in Arabic as Hashd al-Shaabi, an umbrella of Shi’ite militias integrated into state security, to exercise self‑defense following a string of deadly strikes on their positions.
Iraqi military spokesman Sabah al‑Numan said the foreign ministry will summon U.S. and Iranian envoys to protest attacks on PMF sites across provinces and on Kurdish Peshmerga headquarters in Erbil.
Airstrikes in Anbar province hit a regional PMF headquarters and a leader’s residence, killing at least 15 fighters—including the province’s PMF operations commander—and wounding about 30, medical officials said; Iraq accused the U.S. and Israel of responsibility.
The authorization raises the risk of PMF retaliation and a wider cycle of strikes involving U.S. forces, Iran‑backed groups, and regional actors, complicating Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al‑Sudani’s balancing of ties with Washington and Iran‑aligned factions.
Separately, Iraqi Islamic Resistance group Saraya Awliya al‑Dam claimed a targeted operation in northern Iraq against Kurdish separatist positions and alleged Israeli Mossad officers, saying several Mossad personnel were severely injured; the group also claimed it carried out 136 operations against U.S. targets across the region in the past 22 days.
