The Guardian - 1/24/2024 3:28:17 PM - GMT (+3 )
Pentagon calls attacks ‘necessary and proportionate’, after US personnel were injured in a weekend attack in Iraq
The US has carried out retaliatory strikes in Iraq against three facilities linked to Iran-backed militias, the Pentagon has said, raising concerns about an escalation of violence in the Middle East.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said in a statement that the attacks on Kata’ib Hezbollah and other Iran-linked groups were “necessary and proportionate”. The strikes came after a weekend attack on an Iraqi airbase that wounded US forces.
“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. “We do not seek to escalate conflict in the region.”
The US has repeatedly warned that the devastating war in Gaza could lead to a broader conflict across the region. At the same time, Washington has conducted bombings in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and continued to arm its closest regional ally, Israel.
On Saturday, four US personnel suffered traumatic brain injuries after Iraq’s Ain al-Asad airbase was hit by multiple ballistic missiles and rockets fired by Iranian-backed militants from inside Iraq.
Tuesday’s retaliatory strikes in Iraq killed at least two militants, and four people were wounded, sources told the Reuters news agency.
US troops in Iraq and Syria have been attacked about 150 times by Iran-aligned militants since the Israel-Gaza war started in October, and President Joe Biden has decided to respond militarily despite political sensitivities in Baghdad and the risk of a regional war.
The attacks against the US are seen as retaliation for its support of Israel in its war against Hamas, although Washington accuses Tehran of seeking to exploit the chaos.
The US has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq, advising and assisting local forces to prevent a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized large parts of both countries before being defeated.
The war in Gaza has been spreading in recent months, with US forces hitting Houthi targets after the group launched attacks on ships in the Red Sea.
Early on Wednesday, the US military announced it had carried out two more strikes in Yemen, destroying two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed at the Red Sea and were preparing to launch. The raid marked the ninth round of US strikes on Houthi targets.
The Houthis say they are targeting Israel and its western allies in support of Palestinians in Gaza in its targeting of the Red Sea – and there has been no sign that their attacks on shipping slowed after the first wave of attacks.
After US strikes on Monday that were launched in conjunction with the UK, a Houthi army spokesperson said the allied attacks would not go unpunished or unanswered.
Reuters contributed to this report
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