US reconnaissance aircraft spy on PMU positions in Iraq

US spy aircraft have flown over the positions of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) across the country, an Iraqi security source says.

The unnamed Iraqi source was quoted by Arabic-language al-Maalomah news agency that US aircraft conducted the spying over locations close to the small town of Jurf al-Nasr, about 60 kilometers southwest of Baghdad.

Aircraft also flew over PMU positions in Razzaza region, which is located a few miles west of the city of Karbala, the source said, adding that the spying operations were not limited to those areas and that US aircraft also spied on PMU positions in the western province of Anbar.

On March 27, the New York Times reported that the Pentagon had ordered a secret directive, which called on US military commanders to prepare a campaign against Kata'ib Hezbollah, which is part of the PMU.

In November 2016, the Iraqi parliament voted to integrate the PMU, which was formed shortly after the emergence of Daesh in Iraq in 2014, into the military.

SS