Unidentified aircraft reportedly strike Hezbollah base in Iraq

Unidentified aircraft attacked a military base used by the Hezbollah terror group near the Syria-Iraq border overnight Thursday-Friday, according to Arabic media reports.

The airstrikes reportedly targeted a Hezbollah headquarters near the Iraqi town of al-Qa’im, according to the al-Hadath and al-Arabiya news outlets.

The aircraft carried out three waves of strikes, the reports said.

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Earlier this month, an airstrike in nearby eastern Syria killed eight fighters from Iraq’s Iran-backed Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Force) militia.

A monitoring group said the attack was carried out by unidentified aircraft. The US-led military coalition operating in Syria and Iraq denied carrying out the strike.

The attack followed explosions reported at a base near the Iraqi-Syrian border thought to be used by Shiite militias, in what was a suspected airstrike, and several drone strikes in the area.

The area is part of a land corridor for Tehran linking Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.

In September, large strikes in the same area that destroyed major parts of a weapons storehouse known as the Imam Ali compound were attributed to Israel.

Israel views Iran as its greatest threat, and has acknowledged carrying out scores of airstrikes in Syria in recent years aimed primarily at preventing the transfer of sophisticated weapons, including guided missiles, to the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Last fall and summer, unidentified aircraft carried out a series of attacks on bases belonging to Iranian-backed militias in Iraq close to the Syrian border.

The Popular Mobilization Force has blamed both Israel and the US for the string of blasts and drone sightings at its bases. Israeli officials have not publicly commented on these allegations, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted at the possibility that Israel has in the past struck in Iraq.