IN WASHINGTON:
US sources said on Tuesday that the US launched two sets of strikes in Iraq against fighters backed by Iran. These were the first public US responses in Iraq to the recent attacks on US troops in the area.
Because of how unstable things are politically in Iraq, the US had been hesitant to take action until this week.
Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani of Iraq doesn’t have much control over the forces backed by Iran. He needed their help to win power a year ago, and they now make up a strong part of his government.
The US military said in a statement that the attack on Tuesday night was aimed at two buildings in Iraq.
“The strikes were in direct response to the attacks against US and Coalition forces by Iran and Iran-backed groups,” the statement stated.
A US military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the strike by fighter planes destroyed a Kataeb Hezbollah operations center and a Kataeb Hezbollah Command and Control node near Al Anbar and Jurf al Saqr, south of Baghdad.
Kataeb Hezbollah is a strong-armed group in Iraq that has close ties to Iran.
The official said that Kataeb Hezbollah members were there, but that the number of deaths was still being checked.
About 24 hours before, US troops were attacked at an air base west of Baghdad. In self-defense, a US military AC-130 aircraft shot down and killed several fighters backed by Iran, according to US officials.
Two US sources said that a close-range ballistic missile hit the Ain al-Asad air base and hurt eight people while doing minor damage to infrastructure.
66 attacks on US troops in Iraq and neighbouring Syria were blamed on Iraqi militia groups with ties to Iran. So far, the US has only responded with three sets of strikes in Syria.
At least 62 US soldiers have been hurt in the attacks, with some getting minor injuries or severe brain injuries.
The attacks started on October 17, and Iraqi militias have tied them to US aid to Israel in its bombing of Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel.
The attacks on US targets broke a one-year unilateral truce that different groups in Iraq had made with Washington. Some groups were formed after the 2003 invasion to fight US troops, while others were formed in 2014 to fight Islamic State.
Twitter accounts linked to people who support Iran Iraqi rebels put out a statement in the name of the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” to mourn the death of a member who they said had been killed in battle against US forces on Tuesday, but they didn’t say more.
In Iraq, this is the first death that has been tied to the Gaza war. The war has also involved other groups in Iran’s network of regional militias, called the Axis of Resistance, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq. Their mission is to help and advise local forces that are trying to stop the Islamic State from coming back. In 2014, the group took over big parts of both countries before losing.
