Iran Press/ Middle East: In statements issued by his office, Nouri al-Maliki also said that if Israel continues to target Iraq, his country “will transform into a battle arena that drags in multiple countries, including Iran.”
The comments by al-Maliki came hours after US officials told The New York Times Israel was responsible for the bombing of an Iranian weapons depot in Iraq last month.
The Times report quoted two senior US officials as saying Israel has recently carried out “several strikes” on munitions storehouses for Iranian-backed groups in Iraq.
"US is responsible for attacking our ammunition depots"
On Wednesday, the paramilitary force said in a statement it had carried out its own investigation and pointed the finger at the US military, but also accused Israel of infringing Iraqi airspace.
"We announce that the first and last entity responsible for what happened is the United States, and we will hold it responsible for whatever happens from today onwards," said the statement, attributed to Hashd al-Shaabi deputy chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis.
He said the attacks were carried out by "agents or in special operations with modern airplanes," without providing further details.
But Muhandis also said "we have accurate and confirmed information that the United States this year allowed four Israeli drones to enter Iraqi airspace via Azerbaijan... to target Iraqi military headquarters".
He stopped short of explicitly accusing Israel of carrying out raids and also did not make clear whether alleged Israeli drone activity had any relation to the attacks over the last month.
The statement also said Hashd al-Shaabi would deal with any foreign planes flying above its positions without the Iraqi government's knowledge as "hostile aircraft."
The most recent of the explosions at PMU positions came Tuesday night, at a munitions depot north of Baghdad.
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