The US launched airstrikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq on Tuesday after a weekend insurgent attack on an Iraqi air base that injured several American troops, officials said.
“Today, at the direction of President Biden, US military forces conducted a necessary and proportionate strike against three facilities used by the Iranian-backed militia group Kataib Hezbollah and other groups allied with Iran in Iraq,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. statement.
“This precision strike is in direct response to a series of escalating attacks against US and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias,” Austin added.
The US Central Command stated that Tuesday’s strike hit Kataib Hezbollah’s “headquarters, storage and training location for rocket, missile and one-way attack UAV capabilities.”
The retaliation came after four American soldiers were examined for possible traumatic brain injuries on Saturday after a ballistic missile and rocket attack on Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq, ABC News reported.
US authorities say they anticipate the possibility of additional soldiers stepping forward with TBI symptoms. An Iraqi army officer was also reportedly injured in the explosion.
The US carried out airstrikes against Iranian militias in Iraq, according to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File
The base, which houses American and other international troops, was the target of 15 rocket attacks, with almost all of the missiles intercepted by the army, Iraqi police told AFP.
But two of the rockets hit the air base.
Austin warned that while the US wants to prevent war from spreading beyond the Israel-Hamas conflict, America will not allow attacks on its troops and bases without consequences.
“The President and I will not hesitate to take the necessary actions to defend them and our interests,” he said in his statement. “We are fully prepared to take further steps to protect our people and our facilities.”
The US has 2,500 troops in Iraq and another 900 deployed in Syria to advise local forces on how to quell any possible return of Islamic State, which seized large swathes of territory in both countries in 2014 before being defeated.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose coalition of Iran-backed militia groups opposed to US support for Israel in its war against Hamas, claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack.
Since the war in Gaza began, Tehran’s proxy militias have attacked US troops at least 59 times in Iraq along with another 83 in Syria, in retaliation for America’s support for Israel.
The attack followed a ballistic missile and rocket attack on Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq last week. AFP via Getty Images
The US has also recently been fighting the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen and the Red Sea, with American and British forces launching new airstrikes against them Monday.
The bombing targeting Houthi rebel strongholds – including drone and missile sites as well as underground bunkers – was the eighth US-led strike against them in 11 days.
The aim of the missile strikes was to remove supplies to the Houthi forces that could be used to attack commercial ships in the Red Sea — an initiative the US-designated terrorist group claimed was in response to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
