image source, Getty Images
Fighters raise flags of Iraq and militias including Kataib Hezbollah during the funeral of a militant killed in a US airstrike in northern Iraq last month.
The United States announced that its military had attacked three facilities used by Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the “substantial” attack targeted “the Kataib Hezbollah militia and other Iranian-affiliated groups.”
He said the precision strikes were a “direct response” to the United States and its allies in Iraq and Syria.
But a senior Iraqi government official said they were a “clear violation of Iraq’s sovereignty.”
Iraq’s national security adviser Qasem al-Araj added that the US strikes had not helped bring calm.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he said, “The US should increase pressure to stop Israeli attacks in Gaza, instead of targeting and bombing Iraqi state agency bases.”
He was referring to an alliance of Iranian-backed former militias, the Hashed al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Forces), which have now been integrated into the regular army.
Last week, a missile attack on an air base in western Iraq injured a number of U.S. military personnel.
“He is being evaluated for traumatic brain injury,” U.S. officials said.
At the time, the U.S. military’s Central Command (Centcom) announced that Iranian-backed militias had targeted the al-Asad air base, where U.S. troops are stationed, with ballistic missiles and rockets.
A group calling itself the Iraqi Islamic Resistance Forces claimed responsibility for the attack.
The group emerged in late 2023 and is comprised of multiple Iranian-linked armed groups operating in Iraq. It has also claimed other attacks on U.S. forces in recent weeks.
In a statement, Austin praised the “professionalism” of U.S. military personnel who planned and executed the recent attack on Iraq as part of efforts to further dismantle and degrade ISIS. [the Islamic State group]. ”
Austin stressed that he and U.S. President Joe Biden “will not hesitate to take the necessary actions” to protect America’s interests.
“We do not want an escalation of conflict in the region. We are fully prepared to take further steps to protect our people and facilities. We urge these groups and their Iranian sponsors to We ask that these attacks be stopped immediately.”
“These attacks are highly targeted; [Kataib Hezbollah] It is the headquarters, storage and training site for rocket, missile and one-way attack UAV capabilities,” Centcom said.
Kataib Hezbollah, or Brigades of the Party of God, is a powerful Iraqi Shiite militia that receives financial and military support from Iran.
It is believed to have strong ties to the Quds Force, the overseas operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Since 2009, the United States has designated the organization as a terrorist organization, accusing it of attacking U.S. and Iraqi forces in Iraq on behalf of Iran and threatening Iraq’s peace and stability.
After the recent attack on Kataib Hezbollah, the US military did not provide details about where the targeted militia facilities were located in Iraq.
image source, Getty Images
Last Saturday, missiles and rockets were fired at Al Asad Air Base.
Saturday’s attack on al-Asad air base followed a U.S. drone strike that killed a pro-Iranian militia leader in Baghdad earlier this month.
Since the Israel-Gaza war began in October, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked dozens of times by Iranian-linked militants.
The US military and its allies, including the UK, have also intervened to thwart Houthi missile attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea.
Washington and London carried out attacks against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who control much of western Yemen.
Centcom announced on Wednesday that the US military had carried out another strike against two Houthi anti-ship missiles “prepared for launch into the southern Red Sea.”
“The U.S. military identified the missile in Houthi-held territory in Yemen and determined it posed an imminent threat to commercial shipping and U.S. naval vessels in the region.The U.S. military then attacked and destroyed the missile in self-defense. ” Centcom added.
Iranian forces carried out numerous missile strikes against targets in Syria, Iraq and Pakistan last week.
