US strikes, which targeted sites used by Iranian-backed militants in Iraq early Wednesday, “do not help bring calm”, a senior Iraqi official said, adding they were also a “flagrant violation of Iraq’s sovereignty”, AFP reports.

“The US side should pile on pressure for a halt to the [Israeli] offensive in Gaza rather than targeting and bombing the bases of an Iraqi national body,” National Security Adviser Qassem al-Aaraji said in a post on X.

He was referring to the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilisation force), an alliance of Iran-backed former paramilitary groups now integrated in the regular armed forces.