BAGHDAD, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Iraq will summon the U.S. charge d'affaires to protest the deadly airstrike earlier in the day against an Iraqi military medical facility, the Iraqi military said Wednesday in a statement.
According to the statement, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani has directed the foreign ministry to summon the U.S. charge d'affaires and deliver a strongly-worded official note of protest following the attack on the Habbaniyah military clinic, an affiliate of the Iraqi defense ministry.
The statement called the attack a "fully fledged crime in violation of international law," which undermines the relationship between the peoples of Iraq and the United States, adding that Iraq maintains the right to respond under the UN Charter.
A formal complaint, supported by evidence and detailed documentation, will also be lodged with the UN Security Council and the UN to affirm the rights of Iraq and its people in the face of these violations, it added.
Earlier in the day, the Iraqi defense ministry said in a statement that the military clinic and an engineering unit affiliated with the Habbaniyah site command in western Anbar province were hit by an airstrike in the morning, leaving seven soldiers dead and 13 others wounded.
On Tuesday, the Iraqi foreign ministry already summoned both the Iranian ambassador and the U.S. charge d'affaires to Baghdad to deliver formal protests regarding two deadly strikes that day.
The Iraqi moves came amid heightened regional tensions following joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran starting on Feb. 28, to which Iran and its regional allies have responded with attacks on Israeli and U.S. interests across the Middle East. ■
