Thousands of members of Iraq’s Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary alliance gathered in Baghdad on Tuesday to mourn comrades killed in U.S. air strikes along the Syrian border.
The American raids early no Monday sparked an exchange of fire between pro-Iranian militias and the U.S.-led coalition in eastern Syria, and heightened fears of a new U.S.-Iran escalation amid ongoing efforts to revive Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with major powers.
With chants of “death to America” and “vengeance for the martyrs”, the Hashed members massed in Freedom Square near the Iraqi capital’s high-security Green Zone, where the U.S. Embassy is located. Security forces were deployed in large numbers, sealing off the Green Zone after recent incursions by armed groups backed by Tehran.
Several high-ranking Hashed figures took part in the symbolic funeral, including its top commander Faleh Al-Fayyadh and Hadi al-Ameri, head of one of its main factions, the Badr Organisation.
