Shia militia threatens striking Turkish and U.S. military bases in Iraq

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) - Iraqi Shia militia group Hashd al-Shaabi asked the Iraqi government to react against the Turkey’s ground troops deployed in Iraq, and said they have “plenty of options in responding to Turkey.”

The Shia militia group also stated that they are against any kind of foreign military bases inside Iraq, including US forces and consider this an aggression against Iraq and its people. They also stressed that if Ankara refuses to withdraw its troops from Iraq, they will respond them in several different ways.
Baghdad's top officials had already condemned the military presence of Turkey near Islamic State (IS)-controlled Mosul earlier this week, calling it a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty and the Iraqi Prime Minister set a deadline for Turkey to pull out its troops from Iraq, which was ignored.

Also in a recent statement released by the Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, he warned that Iraq has become a political battlefield between the United States and Western countries versus Russia.

Ankara claimed that Turkish military forces deployed to northern Iraq was in cooperation with the Iraqi government and its objective is to protect the training advisors in preparation for retaking Mosul from IS.

However, Iraqi officials denied any cooperation between the two countries over deployment of Turkish troops to Nineveh (Mosul) Governorate.

Hashd al-Shaabi also known as Popular Mobilization Forces is a Shite organization formed by the Iraqi Ministry of Interior in 2014 to deploy against Islamic State insurgents.