Baghdad Depot Blasts: Iraqi Officials Cite Chinese Air Defense Systems in Suspected Israeli Strikes

Iraqi security officials believe Israel conducted recent strikes on two storage locations that held shoulder-fired air defense systems of Chinese origin. According to sources cited by the London-based newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat on Saturday, the weapons were supplied by Tehran to Iranian-backed militias operating in Iraq.

The report did not specify which Chinese model was involved and acknowledged that some details remained unconfirmed. One source indicated that the armed group selecting the storage sites considered them difficult to reach or detect. The suspected attacks occurred last week, shortly after the shipments arrived at both locations.

An explosion on October 17 at a Popular Mobilization Forces base in Baghdad's East Canal area resulted in five injuries. The PMF, a paramilitary body that includes many Iranian-backed militias, initially described the event as an accident. The Iraqi government promised an investigation, but an anonymous official stated that authorities were still examining the circumstances more than a week later.

The newspaper reported that the blast hit a stockpile of obsolete ammunition. Other sources linked this mid-October incident to an earlier event on October 1, when warehouses associated with Iran-backed groups in and around Baghdad were affected. These stores reportedly contained drones intended for suicide attacks and reconnaissance missions.

A security official stated that while Iraqi authorities had not definitively determined the nature of the strikes, they possessed enough evidence to attribute them to Israel. This aligns with previous incidents where Iranian-backed militias blamed Israel for attacks in 2019 and a strike near the border in Albukamal, Syria.

The connection to Chinese weapons remains partially unverified. China's Foreign Ministry denied reports of supplying these systems to Iran on July 28, though the newspaper linked those earlier reports to the movement of the same systems into Iraq. The strikes are occurring against a backdrop of heightened regional tensions, with Iran and allied militias having mounted 600 attacks across Iraq since the US and Israel began airstrikes in February.

The United States withdrew its forces from Iraq on September 30, a deadline agreed with Baghdad, and has advised Americans against traveling to the capital. Within the Shi'ite Coordination Framework, a source said ruling party leaders had predicted renewed war would begin with the destruction of Iraqi faction capabilities. Most major PMF groups, excluding the Badr Organization, are sanctioned by the US as terrorist organizations.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of militias that has previously targeted Israel and the US, published a statement claiming Iraqi airspace was being violated. This assertion comes amid conflicting, unconfirmed accounts of Israeli fighter jets flying through Iraqi airspace near the Iranian border with the support of midair refuelers.