Iraqi force holds funeral for fighter killed by ‘Israeli drone’

An Iraqi fighter killed in a drone attack late on Sunday near the western border with Syria was buried on Monday morning near Baghdad, the powerful Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary force said.

Kazem Mohsen was killed on Sunday “in an Israeli drone strike in Al-Qaim while on duty,” the Hashed said in a statement, adding that he was a “logistical support chief” for the group’s Brigade 45.

“Hundreds participated... in the funeral procession this morning for Kazem Mohsen,” also known as Abu Ali al-Dabi, it said.

The Hashed said one other fighter was severely wounded in the attack on Brigade 45, a unit based about 15 kilometres (10 miles) from Iraq’s western border with Syria.

It was the latest in a string of suspicious explosions and drone sightings at Hashed bases across Iraq but the first time that the group specifically blamed Israel.

The Hashed was established in 2014 from disparate armed groups and volunteers to fight the Islamic State group.

It has received Iranian training but operates officially under Iraq’s armed forces and uses military unit names.

Brigade 45 is one of several units made up of Kataib Hezbollah fighters, designated by the US as a “foreign terrorist organisation.”

A military source from Kataib Hezbollah told AFP on Sunday that Abu Ali al-Dabi was a member of the unit’s rocket squad.

“He fought in Syria and was previously detained by the Americans,” the source said.