US bombards targets in Iraq following military casualties
US soldiers in Iraq. Photo: Reuters
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The US Defense Department said that it launched strikes in Iraq on Tuesday targeting three locations associated with a militia supported by Iran following an attack on an Iraqi air base over the weekend that left US soldiers injured.
Since the Israel-Gaza conflict began in October, there have been over 150 attacks on US forces stationed in Syria and Iraq by militants with ties to Iran.
Four US soldiers were injured on Saturday when multiple ballistic missiles fired by militants supported by Iran from Iraq struck the Ain Al-Asad air base, resulting in traumatic brain injuries, according to Reuters.
The US Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement that the US military forces carried out attacks against three sites utilized by the Iranian-backed Kataeb Hezbollah militia and other parties with connections to Iran in Iraq.
Austin explained that the strikes are a direct reaction to a string of intensifying attacks by Iranian-backed militias on US and coalition forces.
The attacks, according to the US Central Command, which conducts operations in the Middle East, targeted Kataeb Hezbollah’s headquarters, storage, and training facilities.
The United States deploys 2,500 soldiers in Iraq and about 900 in Syria within the framework of the International Coalition to Combat ISIS, which was formed in 2014.