多名官员告诉记者，伊拉克官方民兵组织“人民动员力量”的六名成员周五在巴格达北部的另一次美国无人驾驶飞机袭击中丧生新闻周刊。罢工发生的前一天，唐纳德·特朗普总统批准了一项杀死一名伊朗精英将军的行动。
五角大楼官员告诉记者新闻周刊星期五晚上，行动的目标是伊玛目阿里旅，这次袭击“很有可能”导致其领导人舒布尔·扎伊迪死亡。美国针对扎伊迪的行动是特朗普周四上午批准的同一战略的一部分，该战略杀害了伊朗革命卫队圣城旅指挥官少将·卡西姆·索莱曼尼。
特朗普星期五在佛罗里达州的马拉加度假胜地发表讲话时说，杀死苏莱曼尼的袭击是为了“停止战争”和防止对美国人员的袭击。
特朗普在接受记者采访时说:“苏莱曼尼正在策划针对美国外交官的迫在眉睫的邪恶袭击，以及针对美国外交官和军事人员的邪恶袭击，但我们当场抓住了他并终止了他的行动。”。"我们昨晚采取行动阻止战争，我们没有采取行动发动战争。"
伊朗官员已经发誓要报复，特朗普的最新一次袭击将已经飙升的紧张局势推向了潜在的混乱。
2015年8月8日，伊拉克伊玛目阿里旅的战士在什叶派穆斯林圣城纳杰夫参加阅兵。该组织是众多民众动员部队民兵组织之一，这些民兵组织在伊朗的支持下与伊斯兰国作战，美国领导的联盟也与圣战分子作战。
人民动员部队证实新闻周刊空袭的目标是他们在巴格达塔吉体育场附近的一个车队，但称这是一个“人道主义车队”，迄今为止否认扎伊迪、萨拉亚·哈拉沙尼领导人哈米德·贾扎伊里和另一名民兵领导人雷德·卡拉维的死亡。
显然属于扎伊迪的一个账户也否认“不久前发布的舒布尔·扎伊迪殉难的消息”报道说:“这消息是不真实的，赞美上帝，世界的主。”
伊玛目阿里旅是主要由什叶派穆斯林组成的武装民兵组织之一，为应对伊斯兰国(伊斯兰国)军事团体在2013年和2014年部分接管伊拉克，他们组建了民众动员部队。新闻周刊与最著名的指挥官艾尤布·法勒赫·哈桑·鲁巴伊交谈，也被称为“死亡天使”2017年6月，伊拉克伊斯兰国在伊拉克第二大城市摩苏尔被击败的前一个月。
2003年推翻长期领导人萨达姆·侯赛因的入侵后，几支民众动员部队民兵也与美国军队作战，其中许多民兵得到了伊朗的支持。其中一个组织，卡泰卜真主党，被美国指责为上周火箭袭击杀死五角大楼承包商的袭击。美国以空袭进行报复，空袭在伊拉克-叙利亚边境两侧杀死了多达27名战斗人员。
这次行动没有与伊拉克政府——美国和伊朗的盟友——协调，激起了亲民众动员力量支持者的愤怒，他们在新年前夜袭击了华盛顿驻巴格达大使馆的大门。他们放火并毁坏入口建筑达两天之久。伊朗为示威活动提供了支持，但在示威活动平息并有更多部队抵达的第二天，苏莱曼尼与另外两名民众动员部队官员阿布·迈赫迪·穆汉迪斯和礼宾负责人穆罕默德·雷德哈·贾布里一同遇害。
伊拉克政府也谴责了这次袭击，总理阿黛尔·阿卜杜勒·迈赫迪赞扬了苏莱曼尼和穆汉迪打击伊斯兰国的努力。他认为后者的死是“对伊拉克、国家、政府和人民的侵略”，并呼吁召开紧急议会会议讨论保护伊拉克主权的问题。
这是一个发展中的故事，将随着更多信息的提供而更新。
IRAQI MILITIA LEADER MAY BE AMONG SIX KILLED IN ANOTHER U.S. DRONE STRIKE IN BAGHDAD
Six members of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an official Iraqi militia organization with ties to Iran, were killed in another U.S. drone strike in northern Baghdad on Friday, multiple officials told Newsweek. The strike comes one day after President Donald Trump approved an operation that killed an elite Iranian general.
Pentagon officials told Newsweek Friday evening the operation was targeting Imam Ali Brigades with a "high probability" the strike resulted in the death of its leader, Shubul al-Zaidi. The U.S. operation that targeted Zaidi was a part of the same strategy Trump approved Thursday morning, which killed Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani.
Speaking Friday from his Florida resort in Mar-a-Lago, Trump said that the strike that killed Soleimani was ordered "to stop a war" and prevent attacks on American personnel.
"Soleimani was plotting imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel, but we caught him in the act and terminated him," Trump said, speaking to reporters. "We took action last night to stop a war, we did not take action to start a war."
Iranian officials have sworn revenge, and Trump's latest strike sent already-soaring tensions into a potential tailspin.
Fighters from the Iraqi Imam Ali Brigade take part in a military parade on August 8, 2015 in the mostly Shiite Muslim holy city of Najaf. The group was one of many Popular Mobilization Forces militias that battled ISIS with Iran's support as a U.S.-led coalition also fought the jihadis.
The Popular Mobilization Forces confirmed to Newsweek that an air raid targeted one of their convoys near Taji Stadium in Baghdad, but said it was a "humanitarian convoy" and have so far denied the deaths of Zaidi, along with Saraya al-Khorasani leader Hamid al-Jazaery and another militia leader Raed al-Karawi.
An account apparently belonging to Zaidi also issued a denying "the news of the martyrdom of Shubul al-Zaidi published shortly before." The account said "this news is not true, praise be to God, Lord of the worlds."
The Imam Ali Brigades were one of the mostly Shiite Muslim militias to take arms, forming the Popular Mobilization Forces in response to the Islamic State (ISIS) militant group's partial takeover of Iraq in 2013 and 2014. Newsweek spoke to one of its most notable commanders Ayyub Faleh Hassan al-Rubaie, also known as "the Archangel of Death" in June 2017, a month before ISIS was defeated at Iraq's second city of Mosul.
Several Popular Mobilization Forces militias, many of which were supported by Iran, also fought U.S. troops after the 2003 invasion that toppled longtime leader Saddam Hussein. One such group, Kataib Hezbollah, was blamed by the U.S. for a rocket attack last weekattack that killed a Pentagon contractor. The U.S. retaliated with airstrikes that killed up to 27 fighters in positions on both sides of the Iraq-Syria border.
The operation was not coordinated with the Iraqi government—an ally of both the U.S. and Iran—and fueled anger among pro-Popular Mobilization Forces supporters, who stormed the gates of Washington's embassy in Baghdad on New Year's Eve. They set fires and defaced entry structures for two days. Iran offered support for the demonstrations, but a day after they subsided and additional troops arrived, Soleimani was killed, alongside two other Popular Mobilization Forces officials, deputy head Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and protocol head Mohammed Redha al-Jabri.
The Iraqi government condemned this strike as well, with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi praising Soleimani and Muhandis' efforts in combatting ISIS. He regarded the latter's death as "an aggression against Iraq, the state, the government and people" and called for an emergency parliament session to discuss protecting Iraq's sovereignty.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
