ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — The US-led global coalition to defeat ISIS has described allegations that it struck Hashd al-Shaabi forces in Anbar province on Monday as "inaccurate."
"Allegations of Coalition strikes vs. Popular Mobilization Forces near Iraq - Syria border are inaccurate. No Coalition strikes there ATT [at that time]," the Coalition spokesman US Army Col Ryan Dillon tweeted on Tuesday.
The anti-ISIS Coalition releases daily strike reports. Near the govenorate of Anbar on Monday, five strikes “closed” — the term the Coalition uses to describe the end of engagements:
- Near Al Qaim, one strike destroyed a VBIED supply site
- Near Rawah, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle and an ISIS-held building
"Allegations of Coalition strikes vs. Popular Mobilization Forces near Iraq - Syria border are inaccurate. No Coalition strikes there ATT [at that time]," the Coalition spokesman US Army Col Ryan Dillon tweeted on Tuesday.
The anti-ISIS Coalition releases daily strike reports. Near the govenorate of Anbar on Monday, five strikes “closed” — the term the Coalition uses to describe the end of engagements:
- Near Al Qaim, one strike destroyed a VBIED supply site
- Near Al Qaim, two strikes destroyed 12 ISIS oil stills and a VBIED factory (began Sunday)
- Near Rawah, two strikes engaged an ISIS tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle and an ISIS-held building
Sayyid al-Shuhada, a member of the mainly Shiite force, had stated on Monday that their forces were bombed by US planes on Monday in Anbar province near the Iraq-Syria border and that they suffered many casualties.
The Pentagon announced in November 2016 that the Coalition would not provide air support to the Hashd al-Shaabi, also known as Popular Mobilization Forces or Units (PMF, PMU).
The Shiite-led Hashd al-Shaabi was made an official Iraqi force in an act of parliament in December.
That same month, former Coalition spokesman US Air Force Col. John Dorrian described the way the Hashd, Iraqi security forces and Coalition work together.
“We have conducted strikes all over Iraq and we continue to target the enemy anywhere that they can be found,” Dorrian said. “In many cases the Popular Mobilization Forces are partnered with the Iraqi security forces, the army and the police, and in these incidents we can provide support directly to those forces and all of these strikes help with advance.”
The Coalition later said in December that its strikes provide "incidental benefit to the PMUs."
The Iraqi army and other regular security forces do not publish their own casualty figures.
The Hashd operate their own media outlets with their own spokespeople.
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