Five Injured as Iraq Suspects Israeli Role in Hitting Chinese Air Defense Stashes
Baghdad officials say recent strikes on militia warehouses targeted shoulder-fired missiles supplied by Tehran, according to a report by Asharq Al-Awsat.
By Jonathan Hoffmann ·
Five people were injured in a mid-October explosion at a Popular Mobilization Forces base in Baghdad, an incident Iraqi authorities now believe was part of a series of strikes on Chinese-made air defense systems.
Sources cited by the London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat stated on Saturday that Iraqi officials suspect Israel was responsible for the attacks. The strikes hit two locations where Iran-backed militias had stored shoulder-fired air defense systems of Chinese origin. The report did not identify the specific missile model but noted that the weapons were reportedly supplied by Tehran. One source indicated that the armed group selecting the storage sites considered them difficult to detect, and that the strikes occurred shortly after the shipments arrived. The attacks are reported to have taken place last week.
The October 17 explosion occurred at a PMF headquarters in Baghdad's East Canal area. The PMF initially described the blast as an accident, and the Iraqi government promised an investigation. The newspaper reported that the blast hit a stockpile of obsolete ammunition. An anonymous Iraqi official said authorities were still reviewing the circumstances, despite more than a week passing without an official update.
Other sources linked this incident to a separate event on October 1, when warehouses linked to Iran-backed groups in and around Baghdad were affected. These sites reportedly held drones intended for suicide attacks and reconnaissance. A security official stated that while the exact nature of the strikes had not been fully determined, available evidence pointed to Israel as the perpetrator.
This is not the first time Iraqi authorities have suspected Israeli involvement in regional strikes. Iranian-backed militias blamed Israel for attacks in 2019 and for a strike in Albukamal, Syria, near the Iraqi border. In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel had established a secret airstrip in Iraq during its campaign against Iran. Asharq Al-Awsat also cited unconfirmed accounts of Israeli fighter jets using midair refueling while flying through Iraqi airspace near the Iranian border.
Iran has armed Iraqi militias with missiles and drones for years. Since the US and Israel began airstrikes in February, Iran has sought to turn Iraq into a frontline, carrying out more than 1,000 strikes on the Kurdistan Region. Iran and allied militias have mounted 600 attacks across Iraq, some targeting US diplomatic sites. The US withdrew its forces from Iraq on September 30, a deadline agreed with Baghdad, and has warned Americans against traveling to the capital.
A source in the Shi'ite Coordination Framework said ruling party leaders had spent weeks predicting that renewed war between Washington and Tehran would begin with the destruction of Iraqi factions' capabilities. Most major PMF groups, excluding the Badr Organization, have been sanctioned by the US as terrorist organizations. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of militias that has previously attacked Israel and the US, published a statement claiming Iraqi airspace was being violated.
