Iraq to file UN complaint over Saudi airstrike near Basra

Iraq plans to submit a memorandum to the UN Security Council over a Saudi airstrike on the headquarters of the Shiite Popular Mobilization Forces (Al-Hashd al-Shaabi) near Basra in late July, an Iraqi government spokesman said.

Government spokesman Haider al-Aboudi said Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had instructed the Foreign Ministry to present the document outlining the circumstances and consequences of the attack, which Iraqi authorities said killed at least 20 people.

“Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi instructed the country’s Foreign Ministry to submit a memorandum to the UN Security Council on the circumstances and consequences of the attack on the headquarters of Al-Hashd al-Shaabi,” al-Aboudi said.

He added that Iraqi authorities “had no prior information about the bombing of the Shiite militia’s positions near Basra.”

The spokesman also said the Iraqi prime minister had received another invitation to visit Saudi Arabia. The date of the proposed visit “has not yet been determined and is being discussed with the Foreign Ministry,” he said.

The diplomatic development follows the postponement of al-Zaidi’s planned first official visit to Saudi Arabia on July 29, one day before the scheduled trip. The visit was postponed after the reported strike, with no new date announced at the time.

Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry said its forces, coordinating with US Central Command, carried out precision strikes against facilities linked to armed groups operating in Iraq that it said were involved in attacks on Saudi oil facilities.

Al-Hashd al-Shaabi was established during Iraq’s campaign against Islamic State and played a major role in the group’s defeat. The predominantly Shiite force was later incorporated into Iraq’s armed forces.

Washington, however, regards Al-Hashd al-Shaabi as a pro-Iranian structure and says it receives support and financing from Tehran, a characterization disputed by the group and its supporters.

By Vafa Guliyeva