US Hits Back At Iranian Proxy Forces In Iraq, Yemen
The Pentagon carried out strikes in Iraq against Iran-backed militia on Tuesday, the Pentagon said, after a weekend attack on an Iraqi air base that wounded US forces.
The US military also carried out more strikes in Yemen early on Wednesday, destroying two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed at the Red Sea and were preparing to launch, the US military said in a statement.
The US strikes, which took place at roughly 2:30 a.m. (2330 GMT), are the latest against the Iran-backed group over its targeting of Red Sea shipping, and followed a larger round of strikes a day earlier.
US troops in Iraq and Syria have been attacked about 150 times by Iran-aligned militants since the Israel-Gaza war started in October, creating pressure on President Joe Biden to respond militarily, despite political sensitivities in Baghdad.
On Saturday, four US personnel suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iraq's Ain al-Asad air base was hit by multiple ballistic missiles and rockets fired by Iranian-backed militants from inside Iraq.
"US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
"These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias," Austin added.
US Central Command, which carries out operations in the Middle East, said the strikes in three locations targeted Kataib Hezbollah "headquarters, storage, and training locations for rocket, missile" and drone capabilities.
In Iraq, a medical source and a militant source said the US strikes killed at least two militants and that four other people were wounded.
Kataib Hezbollah military spokesperson Jaafar al-Husseini said in a post on X that the group would continue to target "enemy bases" until the end of Israel's seige in Gaza and singled out US support for Israel's campaign.
The Iranian regime has avoided direct military involvement in the Gaza war, preferring not to escalate the conflict to a confrontation with Israel and the US. However, its proxy forces in the Middle East have been widely attacking US and Israeli interests, as well as international shipping in the Red Sea.
The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq, advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large parts of both countries before being defeated.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office announced moves to evict US forces following a US drone strike in Baghdad earlier this month that was condemned by the government. The Pentagon said that strike killed a militia leader responsible for recent attacks on US personnel.
Sudani has limited control over some Iran-backed factions, whose support he needed to win power a year ago and who now form a powerful bloc in his governing coalition.
The Pentagon has said it has not been formally notified of any plans to end the US troop presence in the country, and says its troops are deployed to Iraq at the invitation of the government in Baghdad.
Following the US strike, Abo Alaa al-Walai, a militia commander sanctioned by the US last year for involvement in attacks on US forces, said Iran-backed Iraqi militias operating under the banner of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq should expand operations by "enforcing a blockade on Zionist maritime navigation in the Mediterranean Sea."
Iran’s ruler Ali Khamenei has been calling on Muslim countries to blockade Israel since early November.
Reporting by Reuters