Israel Allegedly Behind Iraqi Strike

Israel was allegedly behind the explosion earlier this week at an arms depot in Iraq, according to media reports on Wednesday.

A former Iraqi deputy prime minister appeared to say it was Israel that targeted the facility controlled by an Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Baghdad.

“We believe they are weapons we were holding onto for a neighboring state and they were targeted by an oppressive colonial state on the basis of a treasonous Iraqi act,” former deputy prime minister Baha al-Araji wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.

In addition, an unnamed security source also claimed Israel was responsible in the Asharq al-Awsat, an Arabic-language newspaper published in London.

“All indications point to Israel, perhaps with the support of the United States, completing what it started in Syria in terms of targeting sites with Iranian forces,” the source said.

The IDF has declined to comment on the reports.

However, Adel al-Karawi, spokesman for the Ansar Allah al-Awfiya in the PMF, pointed to the U.S. He said that “the data regarding a fire breaking out at the Saqr base, near the al-Dura area south of Baghdad, indicates the base was subject to a bombardment by an American [drone] carrying missiles,” according to The Times of Israel.

Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi said one person was killed in Monday’s blast and that civilians were also wounded. Mahdi ordered an investigation along with “integrated safety measures at all military bases and armed forces’ storage facilities to prevent it from occurring again.”