Iran-backed militias within Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have sustained significant losses in Anbar Province, with senior security officials among at least 17 militants reported killed in a U.S. airstrike near Habbaniyah Airbase, security sources and militia channels said late Monday.
According to the sources, Haider Al Maamouri, the security director of the PMF in Anbar, was eliminated in a targeted strike, marking one of the most consequential blows to the group’s command structure in western Iraq since the latest round of U.S.–Iran escalation began.
In a separate but related strike on a PMF headquarters close to Habbaniyah Airbase, Saad Dawai Al Baiji and four other senior PMF figures were also killed, bringing the total number of casualties from the attack to 17, many of them described as ranking commanders and operations officers.
The headquarters, which oversaw operations for multiple Iran-aligned brigades in Anbar, was hit as U.S. forces expanded their campaign against what Washington describes as Iranian proxy infrastructure used to stage attacks on American troops and regional allies.
PMF-affiliated outlets have confirmed deaths and injuries from recent strikes in Anbar but have accused the United States and Israel of “aggression” against forces that are formally integrated into Iraq’s security apparatus, vowing retaliation and mobilization across several fronts.
The Iraqi government has yet to release a detailed casualty list, and independent verification of all the identities reported killed remains limited amid ongoing military operations and restricted access to the strike sites.
