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Iraqi PM Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani presiding over an Iraqi-US meeting to discuss the future of the global coalition on 27 January, 2024. Photo: PM Sudani's office
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States on Monday clarified that they informed the Iraqi government of the airstrikes against pro-Iran militia groups in the country on Friday only after the attacks had been carried out, contradicting a prior US statement. The strikes came in retaliation for a recent deadly drone attack on American troops in Jordan.
“Iraq, like every country in the region, understood that there would be a response after the deaths of our soldiers. As for this specific response on Friday, there was not a pre-notification. We informed the Iraqis immediately after the strikes occurred,” US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing on Monday.
Washington on Friday night launched a major retaliation campaign against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and Iran-aligned militias in Iraq and Syria, striking more than 85 targets and killing at least 16 Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) fighters and injuring another 36 in Iraq’s western Anbar province, near the Syrian border.
The US airstrikes were carried out in retaliation for more than 165 rocket and drone attacks on American troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan by Iran-aligned militia groups condemning Washington’s support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip since mid-October. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with the IRGC, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks. The most recent drone strike, which resulted in three American soldiers being killed, took place at a military base in Jordan late last month.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Washington had “informed” Baghdad "prior" to carrying out the attacks, an assertion denied by Iraqi government spokesperson Basim al-Awadi.
“The American side then deliberately deceived and falsified the facts by announcing prior coordination to commit this aggression, which is a false claim aimed at misleading international public opinion and disavowing legal responsibility for this rejected crime in accordance with all international laws and laws,” Awadi stated on Saturday.
Iraq’s foreign ministry on Saturday summoned the charge d’affaires of the US Embassy in Baghdad, David Burger, to protest against the “American aggression that targeted Iraqi military and civilian sites.”
On the issue of reports of casualties among Iraqi army and civilians during the Friday strikes, Patel said a Pentagon damage assessment is underway.
“Our colleagues at the Pentagon are continuing to do their battle damage assessment,” he said, noting that “these targets were carefully selected and as I said they included command and control centers, rocket missile drone storage facilities.”
The spokesperson stated having seen “some of those allegations, allegations of casualties among Iraqi security forces because of the strikes on these terrorists operated facilities are concerning. It would mean that these rogue Iran-aligned militia groups are working in proximity to official Iraqi security forces.”
Updated at 10:44 pm
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