Popular Mobilization Forces fighters wave flags in this June 2016 photo. (Wikimedia Commons/Tasnim News Agency)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's paramilitary groups on Wednesday blamed a series of recent blasts at their weapons depots and bases on the United States and Israel.
The statement from the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the umbrella grouping of Iraq's mostly Shi'ite Muslim paramilitary groups, many of which are backed by Iran, said the United States had allowed four Israeli drones to enter the region accompanying U.S. forces and carry out missions on Iraqi territory.
Syrian state media and Iraqi political leaders have accused the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS of conducting airstrikes against a Syrian military position in the eastern part of the country, an accusation the U.S. military vehemently denied, the Washington Post reports.
For at least the second time since the U.S. invaded Iraq 15 years ago, the country appears on the verge of repeating its entrenched cycle of violence: terrorism, insurgency, and civil war.