US strikes Iran-backed militia targets in Iraq after deadly rocket attack
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – US warplanes launched retaliatory strikes against the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah militia in the early hours of Friday in response to Wednesday’s rocket attack on Iraq’s Taji military base which killed two Americans and one Briton.
Iraq’s Joint Operations Command expressed its “strong condemnation of this attack that targeted the Iraqi military establishment.”
Pentagon officials described the airstrikes that targeted five weapons facilities in Iraq as “defensive, proportional, and in direct response to the threat posed by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups (SMG)”.
“Earlier this evening, the United States conducted defensive precision strikes against Kataeb Hezbollah facilities across Iraq,” the Pentagon said in statement, released just minutes after the attacks.
“These strikes targeted five weapon storage facilities to significantly degrade their ability to conduct future attacks against Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) coalition forces,” it said.
“These weapons storage facilities include facilities that housed weapons used to target US and coalition troops,” the statement added.
The US strikes came in retaliation for a rocket attack targeting the Taji air base on Wednesday. Two US service personnel and one British soldier were killed and 14 others wounded in the attack.
The US immediately blamed Iran-backed Shiite militias for the attack.
In a statement on Friday afternoon, Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said the airstrikes “violated the principle of partnership and alliance between Iraqi security forces and the parties that planned and carried out this treacherous attack.”
Three Iraqi soldiers and two police officers were killed and several more injured in Babil, it said. Five members of the PMF 46th Brigade were also injured.
Meanwhile in Karbala, the Joint Operations Command said a civilian worker was killed and another injured in an airstrike on the local airport.
Using the rocket attack on the Taji military base as a pretext for the strikes was “wrong” and will only lead to further escalation, it added.
In a statement, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said the US “will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests, or our allies.”
“As we have demonstrated in recent months, we will take any action necessary to protect our forces in Iraq and the region,” he added.
Earlier on Thursday, Esper said US President Donald Trump had given him authority to respond to the attack.
“I have spoken with the president. He’s given me the authority to do what we need to do, consistent with his guidance,” Esper said.
Asked whether targets inside Iran were considered, Esper said no options were off the table, but their focus was on militia groups in Iraq.
“I’m not going to take any option off the table right now, but we are focused on the group – groups – that we believe perpetrated this in Iraq,” he said.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the strikes were a “proportionate” response to the attack, which killed British soldier Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon.
“The response to the cowardly attack on Coalition forces in Iraq has been swift, decisive and proportionate,” Raab said in a statement Friday.
“We will continue working with our partners to ensure those responsible for these deplorable acts will be held to account.”
“UK forces are in Iraq with Coalition partners to help the country counter terrorist activity and anyone seeking to harm them can expect a strong response,” he added.
Responding to the US strikes on Friday, Iran warned US President Donald Trump against taking “dangerous actions”.
“Instead of dangerous actions and baseless accusations, Mr Trump should reconsider the presence and behavior of his troops in the area,” foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a statement.
The US attacked the bases of the pro-Iran Kataeb Hezbollah militia in December following similar rocket attacks on the Iraqi K-1 air base in Kirkuk, which killed an American contractor.
There are roughly 5,000 US troops stationed in Iraq alongside several NATO forces advising and assisting Iraqi and Kurdish forces in the fight against Islamic State (ISIS) remnants.
The presence of US troops in Iraq has always been contentious for Shiite political parties and Iran-backed Shiite paramilitias.
Following the January 3 US drone strike on Baghdad airport, which killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi militia chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, Shiite blocs in the Iraqi parliament passed a resolution demanding the expulsion of US forces from Iraq.
Iran responded to the assassination by firing a barrage of ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases hosting US forces on January 8. No Americans were killed in the retaliatory strikes, but more than a hundred US personnel reportedly suffered traumatic brain injury.
At the time, the US and Iran appeared to be on the brink of war.
The US military is now moving air and missile defense systems into Iraq following negotiations with Baghdad, Marine Corps General and head of the US Central Command Kenneth McKenzie told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday.
“Since May 2019, Iranian proxies and Shiite militia groups in Iraq have increased attacks on US interests and conducted scores of unmanned aerial system reconnaissance flights near US and Iraqi security force bases,” said Gen. McKenzie in his opening statement to the committee.
“We are in the process of bringing air defense systems, ballistic missile defense systems into Iraq – particularly to protect ourselves against another potential Iranian attack,” he added.
With reporting from Washington by Roj Zalla
Last updated at 2.08 pm