ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Wednesday said its forces carried out an air strike in Baghdad, killing a top commander of the pro-Iran Kataib Hezbollah militia.
"At 9:30 p.m. February 7, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on U.S. service members, killing a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region. There are no indications of collateral damage or civilian casualties at this time," said CENTCOM in a statement without identifying the deceased commander.
Rudaw's reporter in Baghdad Halkawt Aziz said he heard the sound of three explosions in the city.
"Tonight, a vehicle was targeted in Baghdad. This has been confirmed but it is not clear whom the car belongs to or who was in it," Aziz said hours before the US statement, adding that the vehicle has been hit by a drone.
Telegram channels affiliated to the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF, or Hashd al-Shaabi) shared videos purportedly showing a car burning in Baghdad.
A PMF commander told Rudaw that three people were killed in the explosion, identifying one of them as Wisam Mohammed Saber al-Saedi.
According to pro-Iran media, Saedi, who is also known as Abu Baqer al-Saidi, was a leading official for the Iraqi Kataib Hezbollah.
Iraqi Joint Operations Command said in a statement that security forces are investigating "an incident targeting a civilian vehicle" in Baghdad, adding that the explosion killed the passengers of the targeted vehicle.
The sound of three huge explosions was heard in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Wednesday, according to Rudaw reporter on the ground.
— Rudaw English (@RudawEnglish) February 7, 2024
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New US 'aggression'
Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji Spokesperson for Joint Operations Command said the fresh US "aggression" will "undermine all understandings."
"We also hold the American side and the coalition forces responsible for the repercussions of these dangerous actions that threaten the security and safety of the country and clearly undermine all talks that take place between the two sides," he added. "This targeting is a clear aggression and violation of Iraqi sovereignty, dragging the region into dangerous repercussions."
The incident comes amid an escalation of tensions between Washington and pro-Iran militia groups based in Iraq.
Washington on Friday night launched a major retaliation campaign against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and Iran-aligned militias in Iraq and Syria, striking more than 85 targets and killing at least 16 Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) fighters and injuring another 36 in Iraq’s western Anbar province, near the Syrian border.
The airstrikes were carried out in retaliation for more than 165 rocket and drone attacks on American troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan by Iran-aligned militia groups condemning Washington’s support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip since mid-October. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with the IRGC, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks. The most recent drone strike, which resulted in three American soldiers being killed, took place at a military base in Jordan late last month. Washington has blamed the pro-Iran Islamic Resistance in Iraq which includes Kataib Hezbollah for the attack.
Kataib Hezbollah recently announced the suspension of all military actions against US troops in Syria and Iraq.
Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared territorially defeated in 2019.
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, on Wednesday said that the UN is ‘concerned’ about the recent escalation in the Middle East, including tensions in Iraq and Syria.
"We are concerned about this escalation that we are seeing and the risk of further escalation, given strikes in Syria, in Iraq, on the Red Sea, in Yemen. All of this is very volatile,” Dujarric told Rudaw’s Sinan Tuncdemir during a press briefing on Wednesday in response to a question about the death of six members of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) earlier this month.
Kirby told reporters at the time that Washington had “informed” Baghdad "prior" to carrying out the attacks, an assertion denied by Iraqi government spokesperson Basim al-Awadi.
US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told Rudaw during a press briefing on Monday that the US “informed the Iraqis immediately after the strikes occurred.”
"I deeply apologize,” Kirby told reporters on Tuesday, “adding that his remark was based on “information we had that was provided to me.”
''I hope that you'll understand there was no ill intent behind it. No, no deliberate intent to deceive or to be wrong. I take those responsibilities very very seriously and I deeply regret the mistake that I made,” he added.
Updated at 12:45 am on February 8, 2024
