United States: On Monday night, the US military carried out airstrikes on three locations used by the Iraq-based Kataib Hezbollah and ‘affiliated groups’ after an attack injured three US servicemen, one of whom was in serious condition, according to the White House.
Early assessments, according to a US Central Command statement, revealed that the US attacks, ordered by President Joe Biden, “likely killed a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants,” according to CNN Politics.
The White House said an Iranian-backed extremist organization claimed responsibility for using a one-way attack drone to assault US personnel on Erbil Air Base on Monday morning.
According to a statement from US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson, the US attacks were carried out on “three locations utilized by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups focused specifically on unmanned aerial drone activities.”
According to CENTCOM, “There are no indications that any civilian lives were affected.”
One Security ‘servicemen’ was killed, and 18 others, ‘including civilians,’ were injured, The Iraqi government said in a statement. Prime Minister Shia al-Sudani’s office referred to the airstrikes as “hostile acts” that “infringe upon Iraq’s sovereignty and are deemed unacceptable under any circumstances or justification.”
The Iraqi government stressed that such attacks could harm relations between the two countries. “It is a clearly hostile, unconstructive act that does not serve the interests of long-term common interests,” the statement said.
As per the website of the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Kataib Hezbollah is a Shia militant group that “poses a high threat” to US forces in both Iraq and Syria.
As per the statement, the group intends to evict US and coalition soldiers from Iraq and install an Iranian-aligned government there. According to the DNI, the group also works in Syria.
As per the White House, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin briefed the president on Monday afternoon. Several choices were provided to the president, and during that call, Biden ordered the strikes.
Austin said in a statement that the airstrikes on Monday were carried out in reaction to the Erbil incident and earlier attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria.
Austin described US attacks as “necessary and proportionate.” According to a statement provided by Hashd Al-Shaabi, the security serviceman mentioned in the Iraqi prime minister’s statement was a member of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a mainly Shia paramilitary force.
The Iraqi parliament passed legislation in 2016 recognizing Shia militia fighters as a government body functioning alongside the Iraqi military, CNN Politics wrote in a report.
The US, on the other hand, regards the PMU as Iran-backed militias, with some of them being responsible for attacks on US targets in Iraq and Syria.