The U.S. retaliated this week against Iran’s proxies in Iraq with airstrikes after at least three U.S. troops were wounded in an attack by militias in Iraq and Syria backed by Iran.
The strikes were announced by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a Christmas Day statement.
“U.S. military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq. These precision strikes are a response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias, including an attack by Iran-affiliated Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups on Erbil Air Base earlier today, and intended to disrupt and degrade capabilities of the Iran-aligned militia groups directly responsible.”
The attacks by the Iranian proxies resulted in “three injuries to U.S. personnel, leaving one service member in critical condition.”
The U.S. retaliatory strikes were carried out by attack drones, according to Zero Hedge. The U.S. Central Command said it “destroyed the targeted facilities and likely killed a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants,” per the Associated Press.
The latest escalation is part of a series of strikes and counterstrikes that have targeted U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria ever since the October 17 explosion at a Gaza hospital determined to have been caused by a misfired Hamas rocket.
Also contributing to tensions has been the continued presence of U.S. troops in eastern Syria over the strong objections of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus. Besides sanctions that have been imposed on the country, the U.S. maintains control over Syria’s oil and gas resources, Zero Hedge reported.
Steven Nabil, an Assyrian Iraqi purporting to be “covering Iraq and the Middle East,” posted a video of emergency crews seemingly responding to the smoldering ruins of one of the targets of the U.S. strikes in Hilla, Babel, and Iraq.
