Senior MP: Hashd Al-Shaabi Arms Cache Near Baghdad Bombed by Zionist Army Drone

A senior member of the Iraqi parliament's Security and Defense Committee said that preliminary results of investigations show that an Israeli drone backed by the US has bombed Hashd al-Shaabi (popular forces') positions near Baghdad. Karim al-Mahmadawi told the Arabic-language al-Ma'aloumeh news website on Sunday that investigations have proved that the blast in Hashd al-Shaabi's arms depot in al-Saqar region in Southern Baghdad was caused by an Israeli drone with the US support. He added that the American planes provided Israel with full intelligence about the target, and warned of more airstrikes by Israel against Hashd al-Shaabi bases in Iraq. Al-Mahmadawi said that the US embassy in Baghdad will interfere in the case and will attempt to postpone declaration of final results similar to what it did about the case of spying on the commander of al-Anbar operations. One person was killed and 29 others were wounded in an explosion in an arms depot of a military base of Hashd al-Shaabi forces in Southern Baghdad and as a result of shrapnel thrown on the nearby residential areas. After the blast, an Iraqi security expert said the Tel Aviv regime was planning to target Hashd al-Shaabi in Iraq, adding that Israel has most probably masterminded the recent attack on the weapons cache of Hashd al-Shaabi near Baghdad. The Arabic-language website of Russia Today quoted Fazel Abu Raqif, a security expert close to Iraq’s intelligence apparatus, as saying that intel showed Israel intended to strike the arms depot of Hashd al-Shaabi. Abu Raqif noted that the recent blast in Hashd al-Shaabi’s weapons cache in Southern Baghdad might have also been a sabotage move by the Tel Aviv regime.