At least one militiaman was killed in American overnight airstrikes on facilities of pro-Iran militias, mainly Kataib Hezbollah, near Anbar province’s Qaim district and Babil’s Jurf al-Nasr (formerly Jurf al-Sakhar). The US strikes were in response to a missile strike by pro-Iranian militias on Anbar’s Ain al-Asad airbase, which houses US-led coalition troops.
“The strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks on US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria,” US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing.
“US military forces remain in Iraq, and we are there working alongside Iraqi military forces. We are there at the invitation of the Iraqi government in order to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS [Islamic State],” Patel said.
Washington’s strikes drew strong condemnation from the Iraqi government, with Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani’s military spokesperson describing them as “unacceptable” and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, calling on the international community to prevent aggressions against the country’s stability.
The Iraqi government has recently expressed its intention to end the presence of all foreign forces in the country, following several American retaliatory strikes against Iranian-backed but state-linked armed groups.
“There is absolutely no equivalence between the steps that the United States has taken to protect Iraqi and coalition personnel, and between the strikes that Iran-aligned militias are undertaking in Iraq,” Patel said, adding that Washington is defending its personnel with the retaliatory strikes.
“Iranian-aligned militia groups are targeting civilians,” he stressed.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Qasim al-Araji also condemned the strikes, calling on Washington to exert pressure to bring an end to Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip “instead of targeting and bombing headquarters of an Iraqi national institution.”
“Targeting the PMF [Popular Mobilization Forces, or Hashd al-Shaabi] headquarters in Qaim and Jurf al-Nasr is an assault and a blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty and does not help calm the situation,” wrote Araji on X.
On Wednesday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein “received an important message from the American government to the Iraqi government” after meeting US Ambassador to Iraq Alina Romanowski, the Iraqi foreign ministry said in a statement.
“It will be studied by the prime minister and the relevant authorities and the next steps will be taken soon,” the statement added, without clarifying the details of the letter.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups backed by Iran and affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks targeting US-led coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
American troops and bases in Iraq and Syria have come under about 140 rocket and drone attacks since mid-October by Iranian-backed Iraqi militia groups condemning Washington’s support for Israel in its war against the Gaza Strip, according to the latest tally from the Pentagon.
On Thursday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani reiterated that the withdrawal of the US-led coalition is “necessary” for the security and stability of Iraq and “to maintain constructive bilateral relations between Iraq and global coalition countries.”
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 2017 and 2019 respectively.
Diyar Kurda contributed to this article from Washington, D.C.
