Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite armed groups gather near the entrance of Baghdad's Green Zone to show support for Iran, amid heightened regional tensions following recent attacks and retaliatory strikes between Iran and U.S. forces, in Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 28, 2026. (Credit: Ahmed Saad/ Reuters)
Iraq has denounced the U.S.-Israeli strikes against neighboring Iran and warned against any attempt to involve it in the conflict, after two people were killed in strikes targeting pro-Iranian fighters in the south of the country.
Iraq "condemns the unjustified aggression" against Iran, said Sabah al-Numan, military spokesman for the prime minister, warning against any use of Iraqi airspace and territory for "an aggression against Iran."
Military planes and missiles were seen Saturday crossing the country’s airspace, witnesses and a military source told AFP.
Citing a "high-level source," the Iraqi news agency INA claimed that the U.S. had notified Baghdad it wished to keep Iraq out of the conflict.
In the evening, several hundred people protested near the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad against the U.S.-Israeli strikes, AFP journalists observed.
Two rounds of strikes, the first of which killed two fighters, hit an Iraqi military base housing the powerful pro-Iranian armed group Kataib Hezbollah.
This Jurf al-Sakher base — also known as Jurf al-Nasr — belongs to the Hashd al-Shaabi, a network of former paramilitaries integrated into the regular troops.
"There are two martyrs from Kataib and five others wounded," a source close to the group said.
A government media cell also recorded two dead and three wounded in "several strikes" in the Jurf al-Nasr area.
"It is not immediately clear whether the attack was carried out by the Americans or the Israelis," a source from the Hashd al-Shaabi network told AFP.
Kataib Hezbollah, after the initial strikes, announced imminent attacks against U.S. bases "in response to their aggression."
Soon after, according to Kurdish security forces, forces from the U.S.-led anti-jihadist coalition shot down several missiles and drones over Erbil, the capital of the autonomous Kurdistan region in the north.
Explosions were heard near the U.S. consulate in this city, according to AFP journalists.
The U.S. Embassy in Iraq called on its citizens to limit their movements and be prepared to take shelter.
The Kurdistan authorities announced, in view of "ongoing events," the suspension of gas exports from the Khor Mor field, which supplies most of Kurdistan’s power plants and is operated by the UAE-based Dana Gas.
The measure is expected to result in a drop in electricity production of up to 3,000 megawatts.
The complex has been hit several times in recent years during attacks attributed to pro-Iranian Iraqi groups.
Sanctioned by Washington, the Iraqi factions supported by Tehran had not intervened in the war launched by Israel in June 2025 against Iran.
At the start of the war in Gaza, these groups carried out attacks against U.S. troops in the region and targeted Israel several times, before halting these operations under growing pressure from the United States and Iraqi public opinion.
