US Bases in Iraq, Syria Easy Targets for Iraqi Popular Forces' Retaliation

A leading Arab newspaper warned that the Monday airstrikes by the US or Israel against Hashd al-Shaabi (Iraqi popular forces) could be retaliated by attacks against the American forces in Iraq and Syria.

News ID: 70835

Date: 20 June 2018 - 16:42

TEHRAN (Defapress)- "When the US denies bombing of the Syrian army positions near the borders with Iraq in which 52 people were killed and 65 others were wounded, most of them Hashd al-Shaabi forces, this means that either the US spokesman is lying or the other side, Israel, has committed the crime," the Arabic-language al-Ray al-Youm wrote on Tuesday.

"It is not unlikely for Hashd al-Shaabi to retaliate the airstrikes by attacking the US forces in Eastern Euphrates and al-Tanf base and perhaps, the range of retaliatory attacks will extend to the Israeli targets in the future," it added.

The newspaper said that the US commanders and their Israeli allies played with fire and forgot that 6,000 US marines are stationed in Iraq who can be an easy target for Hashd al-Shaabi and the resistance forces.

In a relevant development on Tuesday, Asaeb Ahl Al-Haq Battalion, one of the popular forces fighting alongside the Iraqi army, in a statement lashed out at the US airstrikes on a Hashd al-Shaabi base, stressing that it was aimed at supporting the terrorist groups.

"Targeting a base in which the Iraqi forces were deployed as they are fully legally fighting against the ISIL in Syria means support for the terrorist groups. The site that came under attack is still prone to infiltration of terrorists into Iraq and is a threat to our national security," the statement released by al-Mayadeen said.

"This is not the first attack against Hashd al-Shaabi and is aimed at weakening the Iraqi forces against the Takfiri organizations," it added.

The statement underlined the necessity for standing against the plots against Iraq and Syria firmly.

The US-led coalition warplanes on Monday bombed a Syrian army base near the town of Albu Kamal in Southeastern Deir Ezzur in a move deemed as flagrant support for the ISIL terrorists who plan to attack the government forces in the region.

Syria's state news agency, SANA, quoted a military source as saying earlier today that the fighter jets bombed an army base in al-Harra settlement Southeast of the border town of Albu Kamal.

A number of forces were killed or wounded in the air raid, the news agency reported.

In the meantime, other sources reported that the aircraft were US drone which bombed the positions of the Syrian Army forces and Iraqi popular forces between Albu Kamal and al-Tanf region in Southern Homs.

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