Iraq’s government called for an emergency meeting Wednesday after U.S.-Saudi strikes killed at least 20 members of a former pro-Iran paramilitary alliance.
The United States and Saudi Arabia said they had struck Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq in response to attacks on U.S. forces and Saudi oil facilities.
Washington and Tehran are Iraq's main allies but their enmity has long turned the country into a proxy battleground and left successive governments struggling to maintain a delicate balance between the foes.
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), an alliance of former paramilitary groups and factions now integrated into the Iraqi armed forces, said at least 20 fighters "were martyred and another 32 wounded according to a preliminary toll."
It added that the U.S.-Saudi "aggression" targeted PMF bases in seven provinces, including Baghdad, Nineveh in northern Iraq and Basra in the country's south, causing material damage as well.
It denounced a "dangerous escalation" against an "official security institution."
A PMF official told AFP on condition of anonymity that the strikes in Nineveh and the central Diyala province were the deadliest.
The PMF was created in 2014 to fight the Daesh terrorist group before it was formally integrated into the armed forces. But it also includes brigades belonging to Iran-backed groups which have a reputation for acting on their own.
The U.S.-Saudi strikes came after Riyadh said its forces had intercepted drones targeting oil facilities in the east, blaming Iran-backed groups in Iraq, which described the accusations as "fabrications" and warned Saudi Arabia against attacking Iraq.
The latest strikes come amid growing U.S. pressure on Baghdad to disarm pro-Iran armed groups.
Iraq's new Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, who came to power this year with Washington's blessing, vowed to ensure those groups would hand over their weapons, but has faced pushback from some powerful factions.
He has ordered an emergency meeting of his National Security Council following the airstrikes, state news agency INA reported.
The meeting in Baghdad will focus on the security situation and the overnight strikes, according to the report.
Earlier this month, al-Zaidi visited both the United States and Iran.
The most active pro-Iran armed groups are united under an alliance known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has acted in support of Tehran during the Middle East war, claiming hundreds of attacks against U.S. bases in Iraq and across the region.
But they have not claimed any attacks since hostilities between the U.S. and Iran resumed earlier this month.
Al-Zaidi's government has said it wants to disarm the groups, though there is little indication that will be possible in the near term.
