‘The people don’t want the Americans’: Gaza war fuels tensions in Iraq

Attacks on US troops in Iraq have led to US airstrikes, highlighting the risk of spillover from the situation in Gaza

A salvo of machine gun fire, customary during funerals, illuminated the night sky as dozens of men converged in a dimly lit, unpaved alley on the edges of the sprawling slums of Sadr city to pay their respects. A giant picture of Ali Hassan al-Daraaji had been erected outside the family home in northeast Baghdad to announce his martyrdom" in this week's US airstrikes on Iraqi armed groups.

The series of strikes left a total of nine fighters dead, including Daraaji, the first Iraqi fatalities linked to the Israel-Hamas war. Even as a tenuous truce takes hold in Gaza, the pace and intensity of clashes in Iraq has picked up, highlighting the risk of spillover in a country that has long been mired in conflict.