A drone assault by an Iran-affiliated terrorist group on a army base in Iraq early Monday morning left three U.S. service members wounded, the Pentagon mentioned, and prompted President Biden to order retaliatory strikes.
The assault on the Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq was carried out by Kataib Hezbollah militants, Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned in an announcement. One of many three service members wounded is in essential situation, Austin disclosed.
In response, Mr. Biden — after being briefed and holding a name with Austin and his nationwide safety group — ordered retaliatory strikes on “three areas utilized by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated teams targeted particularly on unmanned aerial drone actions,” Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson mentioned in an announcement.
In response to U.S. Central Command, the retaliatory strikes on the three websites, all situated in Iraq, have been carried out at 8:45 p.m. Jap Time and “probably killed a variety of Kataib Hezbollah militants.”
No civilians have been believed to have been wounded or killed, CENTCOM mentioned.
Iraqi officers mentioned the U.S. strikes killed one militant and injured 18, the Related Press reviews.
Baghdad denounced the U.S. strikes as a “hostile act,” the AFP information company reviews. The federal government known as them an “unacceptable assault on Iraqi sovereignty” that broken relations between Iraq and the U.S.
There have been dozens of assaults by Iranian-backed militias concentrating on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria because the violent Oct. 7 terrorist assault on Israel by Hamas — a bunch that U.S. officers have lengthy mentioned receives monetary and materials assist from Iran.
And in response, U.S. forces have carried out a number of rounds of strikes on what protection officers say are Iran-linked weapons amenities and Iran-backed fighters.
On Nov. 20, a number of U.S. service members have been injured in a ballistic missile assault by Iran-back militias on Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq, the Pentagon mentioned. In related vogue to Monday’s retaliation, the U.S. instantly launched strikes on militia-linked amenities and personnel.
DELIL SOULEIMAN/AFP through Getty Photographs
This additionally comes as Iranian-linked Houthi rebels in Yemen have additionally been conducting quite a few assaults on business vessels within the Purple Sea. Final week, the White Home accused Iran of being “deeply concerned” in these Purple Sea assaults, an allegation Tehran denied.
In a Nov. 15 interview with CBS Information, Iranian International Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian denied that Iran was liable for a drone fired from Yemen that was shot down by the guided-missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner. The drone gave the impression to be concentrating on the Hudner, U.S. officers mentioned on the time.
“We actually did not need this disaster to broaden,” Amir-Abdollahian advised CBS Information, referencing the Israel-Hamas conflict. “However the U.S. has been intensifying the conflict in Gaza by throwing its assist behind Israel. Yemen makes its personal selections and acts independently.”
Final week, power big BP introduced it was briefly suspending all fuel and oil shipments within the Purple Sea due to the assaults.
— David Martin, Eleanor Watson, S. Dev, Arden Farhi, Olivia Gazis and Brian Dakss contributed to this report.