{"id":27173,"date":"2023-11-22T13:35:06","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T13:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/us-forces-strikes-iran-backed-militia-in-iraq-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2023-11-22T13:35:06","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T13:35:06","slug":"us-forces-strikes-iran-backed-militia-in-iraq-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/us-forces-strikes-iran-backed-militia-in-iraq-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"US forces strikes Iran-backed militia in Iraq | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n<\/p>\n
\n
\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n

<\/span>
\n
\n
\nWASHINGTON:
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

The United States carried out two series of strikes in Iraq against Iranian-backed fighters, US\u00a0officials said on Tuesday, in the first publicly reported US\u00a0responses in Iraq to dozens of recent attacks against troops in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

Until this week, the United States had been reluctant to retaliate in Iraq because of the delicate political situation there.<\/span><\/p>\n

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has limited control over the Iranian-backed militias, whose support he needed to win power a year ago and who now form a powerful bloc in his governing coalition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The strike on Tuesday evening targeted two facilities in Iraq, the US\u00a0military said in a statement.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“The strikes were in direct response to the attacks against US\u00a0and Coalition forces by Iran and Iran-backed groups,” the statement said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The strike by fighter aircraft targeted and destroyed a Kataeb Hezbollah operations centre and a Kataeb Hezbollah Command and Control node near Al Anbar and Jurf al Saqr, south of Baghdad, a US\u00a0defence official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.<\/span><\/p>\n

Iraq’s Kataeb Hezbollah militia is a powerful armed faction with close ties to Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n

The official said there were Kataeb Hezbollah personnel present, but an assessment was ongoing about casualties.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read\u00a0<\/strong>US forces under fire in Middle East as America slides towards brink<\/a><\/p>\n

About 24 hours earlier, US\u00a0forces were attacked at an air base west of Baghdad and a US\u00a0military AC-130 aircraft responded in self-defence, killing a number of Iranian-backed fighters, US\u00a0officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ain al-Asad air base was attacked by a close-range ballistic missile that resulted in eight injuries and minor damage to infrastructure, two US\u00a0officials said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The United States had so far limited its response to the 66 attacks against its forces in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, claimed by Iran-aligned Iraqi militia groups, to three separate sets of strikes in Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n

At least 62 US\u00a0personnel have suffered minor injuries or traumatic brain injuries in the attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n

The attacks began on Oct. 17 and have been linked by Iraqi militia groups to US\u00a0support for Israel in its bombardment of Gaza following attacks by Palestinian militant group Hamas on Israel.<\/span><\/p>\n

The attacks against US\u00a0targets have ended a year-long unilateral truce that Iraqi factions, some formed in the aftermath of the 2003 U.S. invasion to fight US\u00a0troops and others in 2014 to fight Islamic State, declared with Washington.<\/span><\/p>\n

Social media accounts linked to Iran-aligned Iraqi militias published a statement in the name of the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” mourning a member who they said had been killed in battle against US\u00a0forces on Tuesday, without elaborating.<\/span><\/p>\n

His killing is the first reported casualty in Iraq linked to the Gaza war, which has drawn in other factions in Iran’s network of regional militias, known as the Axis of Resistance, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah.<\/span><\/p>\n

The United States has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission it says aims to advise and assist local forces trying to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large swaths of both countries before being defeated.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n