Ambassador denies US conducting helicopter raids in northern Iraq

The U.S. ambassador to Iraq has denied reports that the United States has been carrying out helicopter raids against Islamic State militants in northern Iraq.

“There have recently been reports of U.S. helicopter raids in Hawija and Kirkuk. As Defense Minister Obaidi and numerous other Iraqi officials have stated, reports of these raids are untrue,” Stuart Jones said in a statement on Saturday.

Recent reports of more than half a dozen air raids led by U.S. special forces have been decried by powerful Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias and other critics of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi as violations of Iraqi sovereignty. “I want to stress what I have said many times before: Iraqi sovereignty is sacred and must be respected. All coalition activities conducted in Iraq are and will be in consultation with the Iraqi government,” Jones said, referring to the U.S.-led coalition bombing Islamic State targets and training Iraqi forces. Iraqi parliament speaker Salim al-Jabouri told Reuters on Thursday foreign special forces have been conducting raids behind Islamic State lines in Hawija ahead of an offensive planned later this year to retake Mosul, the largest city under Islamic State control.