Iraq criticizes the U.S. calling the attacks a “violation”
The Iraqi government condemned U.S. airstrikes overnight that killed eight members of Iran-aligned Kataib Hezbollah, calling them a “dangerous escalation,” Reuters reported.
Iraq’s government said that the U.S. strikes are a violation of sovereignty and an effort to disrupt a stable internal security situation, adding that attacks by armed groups violated the country’s interests.
According to the statement, the strikes were a violation of the advisory role of international forces in Iraq to fight the remnants of the Islamic State militant group – a coalition that several factions of Iraq’s Shi’ite Muslim ruling coalition say they want to depose.
Two series of U.S. strikes have taken place in Iraq since Tuesday in response to more than 60 attacks by Iran-aligned militias against forces in the region, and a Kataib Hezbollah operations center was destroyed.
Close allies of government
Three separate sets of U.S. strikes were conducted in Syria in response to the attacks, which began on Oct. 17 and have been linked by Iraqi militia groups to the U.S. support for Israel in its bombardment of Gaza as a result of attacks on Israel by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Earlier, U.S. forces were targeted by close-range ballistic missiles at Ain al-Asad airbase west of Baghdad, resulting in eight injuries and minor infrastructure damage. U.S. officials said an AC-130 aircraft shot down Iranian-backed militants in self-defense.
According to Kataib Hezbollah, one of their members was killed. As part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the group is one of many primarily Shi’ite Muslim armed groups that formed in 2014 to fight Islamic State and is now recognized as an official security agency.
As a result of his governing coalition, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has limited control over some Iran-backed factions. These factions were instrumental to his victory last year and now form a strong bloc.
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U.S. has 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission to advise and assist local forces against the Islamic State, which seized large areas of both countries before being defeated in 2014.