Abu Ali al-Askari, the head security official of the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, clarified on 28 August that there was no exchange of bombing with the US last week, neither in Iraq nor in Syria.

According to Al-Askari, the allegations about the recent exchange of shelling with the US-led coalition forces in Syria’s Deir Ezzor are “no more than a justification for [the Americans’] failure to protect their occupying forces.”

“Their claims reveal the intelligence’s inability to know what is happening around them and to create justifications for whether they dared bomb here or there, and if that happened, it would be a disaster for them,” Al-Askari added.

The Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades security officer also emphasized the need to drive out the Turkish forces from Iraq in two phases, the first being “to gain control over their advanced military bases,” and second by “cleansing the bordering areas of their mercenaries.”

Stressing the military capabilities of the paramilitary forces, Al-Askari said, “the resistance and its comrades are capable of expelling the Turkish forces from Iraq.”

A few days ago, an Al-Mayadeen correspondent reported that the Zlikan base in Bashiqa, east of Iraq’s Nineveh city operated by the Turkish army, was targeted with several missiles.

Since the start of the political crisis in Iraq a year ago, the struggles of the two major factions, the Sadrist Movement and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Shaabi, have intensified.

Supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr forced a judiciary shutdown this week that prompted PMU leaders to deploy an additional 6,000 to 8,000 troops to Baghdad’s Green zone district and to increase coordination with the rest of the security forces.

Subsequently, Iraqi caretaker Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi called for a peaceful settlement of political differences between the two blocs.

According to Kadhimi, “the political crisis could be solved by trusting one another,” as the country’s current deadlock is the most extended political crisis since the US invasion toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.