US strikes Iran-backed groups in Iraq after American troops targeted by rockets

US FORCES HAVE targeted facilities used by Iran-backed militants in Iraq in response to attacks on American personnel in Iraq and Syria.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said this evening that “US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by the Iranian-backed Ketaeb Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq”.

The strikes come a few days after American troops in western Iraq were targeted with ballistic missiles and rockets, which the US blamed on militants supported by Tehran.

“These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias,”Austin said, referring to the US-led international coalition against the Islamic State jihadist group.

“We do not seek to escalate conflict in the region,” but “are fully prepared to take further measures to protect our people and our facilities,” he said.

US Central Command said the strikes targeted Ketaeb Hezbollah “headquarters, storage, and training locations for rocket, missile, and one-way attack UAV (drone) capabilities.”

A security official and a leader of the former Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitaries also told AFP news agency that aerial strikes today targeted the Hezbollah Brigades — a group part of the mainly pro-Iranian Hashed al-Shaabi — about 60 kilometres south of Baghdad, with two people killed.

US and allied forces in Iraq and Syria have been targeted in more than 150 attacks since mid-October, according to the Pentagon, and the US has launched retaliatory strikes in both countries, including one that killed a pro-Iran commander in Baghdad earlier this month.

That strike in particular angered the Iraqi government. In response, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani has called for the US-led coalition against IS jihadists to depart the country.

The United States has around 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of efforts to prevent a resurgence of IS, which once held significant territory in both countries.