Iraqi officials suspect Israel struck militia arms caches

Iraqi leaders believe Israel carried out recent strikes on militia storage sites.

Sources told the London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that the targets held shoulder-fired air defense systems. These weapons were of Chinese origin and reportedly supplied by Tehran. The armed groups that managed the sites had chosen locations they considered very hard to detect. The suspected attacks happened soon after the shipments arrived. The strikes took place last week.

The report did not identify the specific system involved. It also noted that some details remained unconfirmed. One source emphasized the difficulty of reaching the chosen spots. The timing of the attacks suggested a direct link to the arrival of the new supplies.

Another incident occurred on October 17 at a Popular Mobilization Forces base. The PMF is an umbrella body that includes many Iranian-backed militias alongside government troops. The group described the blast as an accident. It hit a stockpile of obsolete ammunition in Baghdad's East Canal area and injured five people. An official said authorities were still investigating, though no update emerged for over a week. Earlier, on October 1, warehouses in and around Baghdad were also affected. Those sites reportedly held drones for suicide attacks and reconnaissance.

This is not the first time Iraq has pointed to Israel. Militias blamed Israel for strikes in 2019 and near the border in Syria. In May, reports emerged that Israel set up a secret airstrip in Iraq during its campaign against Iran. There are also unconfirmed accounts of Israeli jets flying through Iraqi airspace with refueling support. A security official stated that while the nature of the strikes is not fully determined, evidence points to Israel.

Iran has armed Iraqi militias for years with missiles and drones. These groups launched many attacks on Israel after the war began in October 2023. Since February, Iran has sought to turn Iraq into a frontline. It carried out over 1,000 strikes on the Kurdistan Region. Allied militias mounted 600 attacks across Iraq, some targeting US diplomatic sites. The US withdrew its forces on September 30 as agreed with Baghdad.

Asharq Al-Awsat linked these events to reports of Chinese weapons going to Iran, though that connection is unconfirmed. China's Foreign Ministry denied those reports in July. A militia also attacked Saudi Arabia's pipeline with a drone from Iraq's Maysan province. That border crossing is now closed. A source in the Shi'ite Coordination Framework said leaders expected renewed war to start with the destruction of Iraqi faction capabilities. Most PMF groups, except the Badr Organization, are sanctioned by the US. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq recently claimed its airspace was being violated.