Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images/FILE
This aerial photo taken on March 8, 2023 shows the Pentagon, the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense in Arlington County, across the Potomac from Washington, DC.
CNN –
The United States carried out airstrikes in Iraq on Tuesday against facilities used by Iranian-backed militias in the country after repeated attacks on US forces, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced in a statement.
The attacks targeted three facilities used by the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah and other Tehran-linked groups in Iraq.
Austin said in the statement that the attacks were “a direct response to a series of escalating attacks against U.S. and coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria” by Iran-backed militia groups.
Also the US Central Command released a statement On Tuesday, he said US forces had carried out “unilateral airstrikes” against “KH headquarters, storage and training sites for rocket, missile and single-use attack UAV capabilities.”
According to a US defense official, the attacks were carried out at two locations in western Iraq, including Al-Qa'im near the Syrian border and Jurf al-Sakhar south of Baghdad.
“I am grateful for the skill and professionalism with which our personnel planned and carried out these attacks and for the continued efforts of our troops on the ground working with regional partners to further disrupt and weaken ISIS,” Austin said in Tuesday's statement.
“The President and I will not hesitate to take the necessary actions to defend them and our interests. We do not seek to escalate the conflict in the region. We are fully prepared to take further measures to protect our employees and our facilities. “We call on these groups and their Iranian sponsors to immediately stop these attacks,” Austin said added.
At least one Kataib Hezbollah fighter was killed and two were injured in the U.S. airstrikes, according to a statement from the Popular Mobilization Front's operational command.
Jafar al-Hussaini, the military spokesman for Kataib Hezbollah, wrote that it will be repealed. This is the promise of the free people.”
The attacks come just days after U.S. personnel at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq were injured in a ballistic missile and rocket attack. While most rockets and rockets were intercepted by the base's air defenses, some projectiles struck, according to U.S. Central Command said over the weekend.
The initial assessment is that Kataib Hezbollah was responsible for the ballistic missile attack, the defense official said.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday that a total of four U.S. soldiers had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries as a result of the attack and all had now returned to duty.
Tuesday's attacks are the first in Iraq since earlier this month, when the US targeted a member of an Iranian proxy group operating in the country who a US official said had “US blood on his hands”. They also come after several attacks against Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen over the past week and a half, as the US seeks to curb aggressive actions by Iran-backed groups in the Middle East amid rising tensions in the region.
According to a US official, US forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked at least 151 times since the attacks began on October 17 – ten days after Hamas' attack on Israel on October 7. Attacks on US forces have increased tensions and concerns about the outbreak of a broader conflict in the region, particularly in connection with the Iranian-backed Houthis' regular attacks on commercial vessels in Yemen.
“Attacks on our forces in Iraq and Syria have continued since October 17. “The attack we saw over the weekend was just a large-scale attack,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh said Monday. “But again: We are not seeking a conflict, we do not want this to escalate into a regional war, we do not want our armed forces to continue to be endangered.”
The US crackdown on Iran-backed militias in Iraq has apparently increased tensions between the US and the Iraqi government. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani told Portal this month that there should be a “short” time frame for the U.S.-led coalition to withdraw from the country. The US has claimed that it is in Iraq at the invitation of its government as part of the ongoing mission to defeat ISIS.
“There is a need to reorganize these relationships so that they do not become the goal or justification of any party, whether internal or foreign, to manipulate stability in Iraq and the region,” Sudani said. Ryder said at the Pentagon on Tuesday that he was aware of “no official communications” to the Pentagon about a withdrawal of US forces.
The US has carried out a series of strikes in Iraq and Syria in response to attacks on coalition forces and has blamed Iran directly for supporting the militia groups that carried out the attacks.
In October, after U.S. airstrikes on facilities linked to Iranian-backed militias, a senior defense official said Tehran was “the center of gravity” of the attacks and that “Iranian fingerprints were everywhere.”
“Tehran and senior Iranian leaders fund, arm, equip, train and lead a range of militia groups across the region, and since October 17 they have escalated attacks on US forces, prompting us to take self-defense measures,” the said spokesman official said.
As attacks continue in Iraq and Syria, the U.S. has also been managing regular attacks on commercial vessels by the Houthis in Yemen. Tuesday's attacks followed attacks by the United States and Britain against the Houthis on Monday, which a senior official said successfully targeted weapons storage sites, drone systems and missiles.
It was the eighth wave of attacks by the US military against the Houthis in about ten days.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN's Nechirvan Mando and Maija Ehlinger contributed to this report.