US attacks pro-Iranian militias in Iraq

After three US soldiers were injured in an attack on a base in Iraq, the US carried out retaliatory strikes. Defense Secretary Austin said three facilities belonging to pro-Iranian militias in Iraq were bombed.

After an attack on a base in Iraq that left three US soldiers injured, the US attacked pro-Iranian militias in the country. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said US forces carried out “necessary and appropriate” attacks on three facilities used by the paramilitary Kataeb Hezbollah and militia-affiliated groups.

“These precision strikes are in response to a series of attacks against US soldiers in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militias,” Austin said. He particularly referred to an attack on the air base in Erbil in the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq on Monday. According to US information, three US soldiers were injured, one of them seriously.

Attacks on US forces are increasing

Since the war between Israel and the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas began on October 7, attacks on bases used by the US army in Iraq and Syria have increased sharply. The US military has recorded more than 100 such attacks since mid-October. The attacks in Iraq were mostly claimed by the Islamic Resistance, a loose association of armed groups linked to the pro-Iranian Hashed al-Shaabi network.

Around 2,500 US soldiers are stationed in Iraq and 900 in Syria. The US-led military coalition in these countries is intended to help prevent the “Islamic State” (IS) jihadist militia from resurgent.