Almost exactly 24 hours after a U.S. airstrike killed Iranian General Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad International Airport, reports of a second airstrike are beginning to emerge from both Iraqi officials and state television.
First, from Reuters:
Air strikes targeting Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces umbrella grouping of Iran-backed Shi’ite militias near camp Taji north of Baghdad have killed six people and critically wounded three, an Iraqi army source said late on Friday.
Two of the three vehicles making up a militia convoy were found burned, the source said, as well as six burned corpses. The strikes took place at 1:12 am local time, he said.
The BBC’s Faisal Irshaid reports that Iraqi media claims that Shi’ite militia leader Shibi al-Zaydi and his brother died in the attack. The PMF, however, has denied that any key commanders were affected by the attack, according to the Associated Press.
The Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces confirmed the strike, saying it targeted one of its medical convoys near the stadium in Taji, north of Baghdad. The group denied any of its top leaders were killed.
In November 2018, al-Zaydi was designated a Specially Designated Global Terrorist by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
Al-Zaydi was designated for acting for or on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps–Qods Force (IRGC-QF), and assisting in, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or financial or other services to or in support of, Hizballah.
Al-Zaydi has served as a financial coordinator between the IRGC-QF and sectarian armed groups in Iraq and assisted in facilitating Iraqi investments on behalf of IRGC-QF Commander Qasem Soleimani, whom OFAC designated on October 11, 2011, for acting for or on behalf of the IRGC-QF.
[...]
Al-Zaydi has appeared publically with IRGC-QF Commander Qasem Soleimani at least four times.
Responsibility for the attack has not yet been claimed.
This is a developing story.
Saturday, Jan 4, 2020 · 1:49:06 AM +00:00
·
Jessica Sutherland
Newsweek’s latest coverage confirms the six dead reported earlier by Reuters, and also attributes responsibility to the United States.
Six members of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an official Iraqi militia organization with ties to Iran, were killed in another U.S. drone strike in northern Baghdad on Friday, multiple officials told Newsweek.
[...]
Pentagon officials told Newsweek Friday evening the operation was targeting Imam Ali Brigades with a "high probability" the strike resulted in the death of its leader, Shubul al-Zaidi. The U.S. operation that targeted Zaidi was a part of the same strategy Trump approved Thursday morning, which killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani.