- Israel reportedly conducted a missile strike targeting Iranian-backed militia headquarters in Iraq’s Jurf al-Sakhr area amid escalating regional military tensions.
- Local sources said the strike focused on Kataib Hezbollah facilities linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard network, though official confirmation and damage assessments remain pending.
Israel has reportedly carried out a missile strike targeting Iranian-backed militia positions in Iraq on Saturday morning, according to local Iraqi media and security sources.
The reported strike comes amid a broader escalation across the Middle East, where coordinated military actions and retaliatory attacks have expanded beyond direct Israel-Iran confrontation zones. The alleged attack appears aimed at disrupting militia groups linked to Iran’s regional network, which Israeli officials have repeatedly described as a key operational threat.
According to Iraqi outlet Shafaq News, a security source and another source within the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) said that a missile strike targeted militia infrastructure in the Jurf al-Sakhr area south of Baghdad. The report stated that the strike specifically hit facilities associated with Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi Shiite militia group aligned with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Shafaq News reported that “a security source and another in the Popular Mobilization Forces reported on Saturday that an Israeli missile strike targeted the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces in the Jurf al-Sakhr area, specifically targeting the headquarters of Kataib Hezbollah.” No official confirmation from Israeli authorities was immediately issued at the time of reporting.
Local media claims indicated that the targeted location was connected to Iranian-backed militia operations operating within Iraq’s PMF structure. The timing of the strike coincided with heightened military activity across the region following United States and Israeli operations against Iranian targets and subsequent Iranian retaliatory actions.
Verified casualty figures or damage assessments were not immediately available. Iraqi officials had not publicly confirmed operational details beyond reports circulating through local security sources.
The Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella organization composed of multiple Iraqi militia groups, were formally integrated into Iraq’s security apparatus in recent years but include factions that maintain close ties to Iran’s IRGC. Kataib Hezbollah is widely regarded as one of the most influential Iran-aligned groups within the network and has previously been accused by Western officials of supporting attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in the region.
Missile strikes targeting militia infrastructure typically aim to disrupt command nodes, weapons storage facilities, or logistics hubs used to coordinate regional operations. Such targets are often selected for their operational role rather than territorial control, reflecting efforts to degrade networks capable of launching attacks or transferring weapons.