US says strikes hit three targets linked to Iran-backed groups in IraqLet’s get more details on those strikes in Iraq. Associated Press is reporting that three facilities in Iraq were hit by the US military.
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes were in retaliation for missile and drone attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria over the past several days.
The US strikes hit militia facilities in Jurf al-Sakhar, which is south of Baghdad, al-Qaim and another unnamed site in western Iraq, two US officials told AP.
Here is part of a statement released by Lloyd Austin:
At President Biden’s direction, U.S. 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 …
These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against U.S. and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias.
The strikes come hours after the US said militants fired two one-way attack drones at al-Asad airbase, injuring US service members and damaging infrastructure. And they followed the militia’s most serious attack this year on the airbase, when it launched multiple ballistic missiles on Saturday.
Al-Asad is a large airbase in western Iraq where US troops have trained Iraqi security forces and now coordinate operations to counter the Islamic State group.