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Published January 23, 2024, 6:32 p.m. ET
The United States launched air strikes against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq on Tuesday, following a weekend rebel attack on an Iraqi air base that wounded several American soldiers, officials said.
“Today, at the direction of President Biden, U.S. forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by the Iran-backed militia group Kataib Hezbollah and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
“These precision strikes are a direct response to a series of escalating attacks by Iran-backed militias against U.S. and coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria,” Austin added.
U.S. Central Command noted that Tuesday's strikes hit Kataib Hezbollah's “headquarters, storage and training sites for rocket, missile and disposable attack UAV capabilities.”
The retaliatory attack came after four American soldiers were evaluated for possible traumatic brain injuries following a ballistic missile and rocket attack on Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq on Saturday, ABC News reported.
U.S. authorities said they anticipated the possibility that additional troops with TBI symptoms would advance. An Iraqi military official was also reportedly injured in the explosion.
According to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, the US carried out airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. 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 rockets intercepted by the military, Iraqi police told AFP.
But two of the rockets hit the air base.
Austin warned that while the United States wants to prevent the war from expanding beyond the Israel-Hamas conflict, America will not allow attacks on its troops and bases to go unnoticed.
“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 measures to protect our employees and our facilities.”
The U.S. has deployed 2,500 troops in Iraq and another 900 in Syria to advise local forces on how to suppress a possible return of the Islamic State, which managed to seize large areas of territory in both countries in 2014 before ultimately being defeated .
The Islamic Resistance of Iraq, a loose coalition of Iran-backed militia groups that oppose U.S. support for Israel in its war against Hamas, claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack.
Since the war in Gaza began, Tehran proxy militias have attacked the U.S. military at least 59 times in Iraq and another 83 times in Syria in revenge for U.S. support for Israel.
The attacks come after a ballistic missile and rocket attack on Al-Asad air base in Iraq last week. AFP via Getty Images
The US has also recently clashed with the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist group in Yemen and the Red Sea, with American and British soldiers launching a new round of airstrikes against them on Monday.
The bombings on Houthi rebel strongholds – including drone and missile sites and even an underground bunker – were the eighth US-led attack against them in 11 days.
The aim of the rocket attacks was to take Houthi military supplies that could be used to attack merchant ships in the Red Sea – an initiative the US-designated terrorist group describes as a response to the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip.
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