Gaza conflict reignites tensions with the US

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.

- Simona Foltyn

A giant picture of Ali Hassan al-Daraaji had been erected outside the family home in north-east Baghdad to announce his "martyrdom" in last month's US airstrikes on Iraqi armed groups.

The series of strikes left nine fighters dead, including Daraaji, the first Iraqi fatalities linked to the Israel-Hamas war. The Pentagon said it acted in self-defense of its troops, who returned to Iraq in 2014 to help the Iraqi government fight Islamic State.

Many of the men at the funeral were members of Kataib Hezbollah, the secretive group believed responsible for the bulk of the latest attacks. Some had joined when it first formed during the early days of the occupation. Others, like Ali and his uncle Dholfaqar al-Daraaji, followed suit in 2014, when Kataib Hezbollah ostensibly merged into the state security apparatus under the Popular Mobilisation Forces, an umbrella of Shia paramilitaries that received Iranian support to fight IS.