by The United States carried out a new round of airstrikes early Tuesday in Iraq, likely killing militants and destroying three facilities used by Iranian proxies that had been targeting U.S. and coalition troops, U.S. officials said.
The U.S. strikes were retaliation for a series of attacks, including a drone attack hours earlier by members of Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups on the Erbil air base in Iraq, according to Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council. The drone strike injured three U.S. service members, one of them seriously, she said.
“My prayers are with the brave Americans who were injured,” Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement.
The latest attacks targeted facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah, a militant group in Iraq that considers itself a proxy for Iran. The United States blames Iran and militias aligned with it for what has become a nearly daily barrage of rocket and drone attacks against American forces in Iraq and Syria. The Biden administration has sought to calibrate retaliatory airstrikes to ultimately deter such groups while avoiding a broader war.
After Biden was informed of the Erbil attack on Christmas morning, he ordered the Defense Department to prepare response options, White House officials said. Later that same day, the president authorized strikes that took place around 8:45 pm Eastern Time.
Biden chose Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated facilities that had been used to launch drone attacks, the officials said.
Last month, the United States attacked an operations center and command and control node south of Baghdad used by Kataib Hezbollah. The group’s political wing is part of Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani’s coalition.
Since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, Syria and Yemen have launched a series of attacks on US troops and bases and on commercial ships transiting the Red Sea. The Biden administration has retaliated against militants in Iraq and Syria, but has so far avoided attacking Houthi militants in Yemen who have attacked Red Sea traffic.
In a statement, US Central Command said early assessments indicated that the latest US airstrikes in Iraq destroyed targeted facilities and most likely killed several militants. The statement said there was no indication of civilian casualties.
“These strikes are intended to hold accountable elements directly responsible for attacks against coalition forces in Iraq and Syria and degrade their ability to continue attacks,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla of the United States Central Command said in the statement. Joined. “We will always protect our forces.”
