Iraqi Officials Suspect Israel Destroyed Chinese Air Defense Caches in Baghdad

Five people were injured in an explosion at a Popular Mobilization Forces base in Baghdad's East Canal area on October 17, an incident Iraqi authorities now believe was part of a coordinated series of strikes on Iranian-backed militia storage sites. The blasts, which occurred last week, targeted locations holding shoulder-fired air defense systems of Chinese origin.

Sources cited by the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday stated that Iraqi officials suspect Israel was responsible for the attacks. The weapons reportedly arrived in Iraq from Tehran. One source noted that the armed group which selected the storage locations considered them difficult to reach or detect. The strikes happened shortly after the shipments arrived at both sites.

The PMF initially described the October 17 blast as an accident. The Iraqi government promised an investigation into the incident. The newspaper reported that the explosion hit a stockpile of obsolete ammunition. An anonymous Iraqi official said authorities were still looking into the circumstances. More than a week had passed without a public update on the findings.

The mid-October incident followed a separate event on October 1. Warehouses linked to Iran-backed groups in and around Baghdad were affected in that earlier instance. Reports indicated the sites stored drones intended for suicide attacks and reconnaissance missions. A security official told the newspaper that Iraqi authorities had not determined the exact nature of the strikes but had seen enough evidence to attribute them to Israel.

This is not the first time Iraqi officials have pointed to Israel as the likely culprit. Iranian-backed militias blamed Israel for strikes in 2019 and for a specific attack in Albukamal, Syria, near the Iraqi border. In May, The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel established a secret airstrip in Iraq during its campaign against Iran. Asharq Al-Awsat also referenced unconfirmed accounts of Israeli fighter jets flying through Iraqi airspace near the Iranian border, supported by midair refuelers.

Iran has supplied Iraqi militias with weapons for years, including missiles and drones capable of threatening Israel. These groups launched numerous attacks on Israel after Hamas began its war on October 7, 2023. Since the US and Israel began airstrikes in February, Iran has attempted to use Iraq as a frontline. The country has carried out more than 1,000 strikes on the Kurdistan Region using drones and missiles. Iran and allied militias have mounted 600 attacks across Iraq, with some targeting US diplomatic sites.

The US withdrew its forces from Iraq on September 30, a deadline agreed upon with Baghdad over previous years. Washington has warned American citizens against traveling to Baghdad. The newspaper linked earlier reports of China supplying weapons to Iran with the movement of those same systems to Iraq, though it described that connection as unconfirmed. China's Foreign Ministry denied those reports on July 28.

Separately, an Iran-backed militia attacked Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline with a drone. The attack reportedly originated from Iraq's Maysan province, which is near the Iranian border. That crossing has since closed due to US pressure and Iraqi concerns about trafficking. The newspaper concluded that the recent strikes signal the start of a new round of conflict.

A source in the Shi'ite Coordination Framework said ruling party leaders had spent weeks predicting that renewed war between Washington and Tehran would begin with the destruction of the Iraqi factions' capabilities. Most major groups in the PMF, except for the Badr Organization, have been sanctioned by the US as terrorist organizations. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a collection of militias that has attacked Israel and the US in the past, published a statement claiming Iraqi airspace was being violated.