‘US strike’ in Baghdad kills sr commander

A "US strike" in Baghdad yesterday killed a military commander of the Hashed al-Shaabi, the ex-paramilitary force said, with an Iraq security official reporting two deaths in a drone attack.

"A drone targeted the logistical support headquarters of Hashed al-Shaabi," mainly pro-Iranian former paramilitary units integrated into the Iraqi armed forces, said the security official.

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The strike killed "two members and wounded seven others", said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

A Hashed source, also asking not to be named, confirmed the death toll and charged that the United States was behind the attack.

In a separate incident, four Hezbollah fighters were killed overnight in southern Lebanon, the Iran-backed movement announced yesterday, in what Lebanese state media said were Israeli strikes on the border town of Naqura.

The deaths, which according to a source close to the powerful group include a local Hezbollah leader, follow a strike on Beirut this week that killed a senior Hamas leader, raising regional tensions as conflict rages in Gaza.

The group did not elaborate, but a source close to Hezbollah told AFP that the four were killed in Naqura near the Israeli border, adding that one of them was the movement's local leader.

Lebanon's official National News Agency said Israeli aircraft "carried out raids on the centre of Naqura, which destroyed a home and damaged surrounding houses".

Hezbollah said in a statement the four fighters had been killed "on the road to Jerusalem" -- a phrase it has been using to announce deaths of its members due to Israeli fire since the Israel-Hamas fighting started on October 7.

The Lebanese group on Wednesday announced deaths of five other fighters in southern Lebanon.

In Iraq, Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the Hashed's factions, said in a statement that "the deputy commander of operations for Baghdad, Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi" had been "martyred in a US strike".

There was no immediate comment from US officials, whose forces in Iraq and neighbouring Syria have faced a surge in attacks since the start of Israel's offensive in Gaza on October 7.

Videos shared on a Telegram channel linked to the Hashed showed columns of smoke rising above the area of strike on Baghdad's Palestine street.

Washington has counted more than 100 attacks against US targets in Syria and Iraq since mid-October.

Many have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose alliance of Iran-linked armed groups that oppose US support for Israel in the Gaza war.