ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Iraq’s Joint Operation Command (JOC) issued a statement on Monday claiming the Iraqi forces killed in airstrikes in Syria on Sunday were not under its official command. However, it did not deny that Iraqis outside its command structure are operating there. “The Joint Operations Command would like to inform the world and media that our security forces, including all of its components, from the army, the police and Hashd al-Shaabi work on securing the Iraqi border, including the Iraqi-Syrian [border], and none of these factions have been struck with airstrikes,” reads a statement published by the Security Media Center on Monday. “We are following what happened since yesterday June 17 to these factions, whom we confirmed were not communicating with our forces and did not have coordination with the Joint Operations Command through available channels,” the statement adds. “The Joint Operations Command welcomes any efforts done by factions on Syrian soil through countering Daesh [ISIS] terrorist gangs and fending off danger on joint borders between Iraq and Syria. We also condemn the assault on these factions.” The JOC said it is not communicating with factions operating on Syrian soil, as they are not part of Iraq’s defense apparatus. “We are opening investigations concerning the responsible parties for causing the loss of Iraqi youth and trespassing against Iraqi and Syria sovereignty,” the JOC statement added. Hashed al-Shaabi factions, especially Kataib Hizbollah and Najbah Movement, are known to have fought in Syria as Iranian proxies to prop up Bashed al-Assad’s regime. Hashed al-Shaabi itself issued its own statement on Monday claiming 22 of its fighters were killed and 12 injured – blaming the US-led coalition for the strikes. The US denies the coalition launched the attack. According the JOC, Hashd al-Shaabi’s deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was allegedly unaware of the statement, insisting there are no Hashd al-Shaabi forces operating in Syria. The strike reportedly occurred on a post of the Syrian Arab Army in the village of al-Hari, east of al-Boukamal – on the banks of the Euphrates River, between al-Boukamal city and the border with Iraq. Syria’s state media outlet SANA had reported a coalition airstrike killed 38 people, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 38 pro-regime fighters had been killed, but did not identify who was responsible. Coalition spokesperson Sean Ryan denied the coalition had conducted the operation.
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