Unknown forces target Iran-backed militia bases on Syrian border

A human rights watchdog said on Friday that, hours earlier, unidentified aircraft struck facilities belonging to Iran-backed militias of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in al-Bukamal, a Syrian city on the Iraqi border.

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A human rights watchdog said on Friday that, hours earlier, unidentified aircraft struck facilities belonging to Iran-backed militias of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) in al-Bukamal, a Syrian city on the Iraqi border. 

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported that several explosions occurred in the vicinity of PMF-controlled sites shortly after drones flew overhead, apparently to monitor the movements of the militiamen.

The shelling took place in the town of al-Galaa and Al-Abbas village, located on the outskirts of the al-Bukamal countryside.

According to unconfirmed reports from Syria, the bombing targeted bases of factions within the PMF and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). 

This development comes at a time when the region is witnessing escalating tension following the US assassination of prominent IRGC general Qasim Soleimani in Baghdad along with a senior PMF commander.

Read More: US strike kills Qasim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis

In response to the killings, Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missile strikes at airbases in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region that house both Iraqi and Coalition troops.

Read More: Iran strikes military bases in Iraq, Kurdistan housing US forces: Pentagon

Press reports have claimed that Friday's strikes on the PMF focused on sites to which Iran had recently transferred a number of missiles. The IRGC has allegedly moved such armaments through Iraq to deliver them to its proxies in Lebanon and Syria.

One of the targets was a reportedly a base belonging to the Kata’ib Imam Ali militias, one of the PMF militias which receive direct backing from Iran.

In the past, both the American and Israeli militaries, seeking to limit arms deliveries to Iranian proxies outside Iraq such as Hizbollah in Lebanon, have bombed PMF storage facilities in Syria and Iraq. 

Read More: US strikes Kata’ib Hizbollah in Iraq and Syria

Editing by John J. Catherine