US A-10s Hit Iranian Militia Bases in Iraq Strike | WATCH

U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II attack planes conducted strafing runs on positions held by Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces militias in Iraq’s Al-Anbar province, according to videos circulating on social media and local reports from the region.

The strikes targeted facilities at Habbaniyah base, a joint Iraqi military installation roughly 50 miles west of Baghdad that houses both Iraqi army units and PMF fighters. Footage posted online showed at least one A-10 making low-level passes while firing its 30-millimeter GAU-8 Avenger cannon, with plumes of smoke visible on the ground afterward. Some accounts indicated the aircraft hit medical and engineering buildings at the base, which is a joint Iraqi military installation west of Baghdad that houses both regular army units and Iranian-backed Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF / Hashd al-Shaabi) fighters.

Iraqi defense ministry and security officials confirm a fresh strike hit the base’s military health-care clinic and engineering buildings, killing seven security personnel and wounding 13 others

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This is a follow-up to the larger U.S. airstrike on the exact same base yesterday (March 24), which killed at least 15 PMF fighters, including the group’s senior Anbar operations commander.

The A-10 missions form part of the broader Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-led campaign against Iran and its regional proxies that began Feb. 28. In addition to targeting militia positions in Iraq, A-10s have been deployed along the southern flank of the operation to hunt and destroy Iranian fast-attack boats and mine-laying vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, the Pentagon has said.

U.S. officials have described the A-10’s involvement in Epic Fury as evidence that Iran’s air defenses have been sufficiently degraded to allow the low-and-slow, non-stealth aircraft to operate in contested airspace. The plane, long a workhorse for close air support, is also being used for maritime interdiction missions for which it was originally designed.

No immediate comment was available from U.S. Central Command on Tuesday’s Iraq strikes. The PMF, a network of mostly Shiite paramilitary groups formally integrated into Iraq’s security forces, has been a key Iranian proxy in the region for years.

The latest action comes amid ongoing U.S. efforts to dismantle Iran’s missile program, navy and proxy networks as part of Epic Fury.