The Department of Defense has confirmed its responsibility for an airstrike in Iraq that targeted a leader of an Iranian-backed militia.
The target of the strike, which occurred on Thursday, was Mushtaq Jawad Kazim al Jawari, also known as Abu-Taqwa, and he was the leader of Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba. He was “actively involved in planning and carrying out attacks against American personnel,” Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder told reporters on Thursday. The strike also killed an “associate” of his.
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“It is important to note that the strike was taken in self-defense, that no civilians were harmed, and that no infrastructure or facilities were struck,” he added. “This particular individual was involved in the planning and execution of attacks against American personnel in Iraq and Syria, which, by definition, is a threat, which, by definition, us taking action as a self-defense action.”
Iraqi military spokesman Yehia Rasool said in a statement that they hold “the International Coalition Forces responsible for this unprovoked attack on an Iraqi security body operating in accordance with the powers granted to it by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces.”
Thursday’s strike comes as various Iraqi-based militias have targeted U.S. forces in the region. These militias have launched hundreds of rockets and drones at U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria. Dozens of U.S. forces have been injured in the attacks, but none have been killed.
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The United States has carried out strikes against these militias’ facilities in Syria and Iraq, though they have largely been in the former, not the latter.
U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria remain in both countries as a part of the effort to ensure the Islamic State does not reconstitute. These troops have increasingly come under attack by these Iranian-backed militias since mid-October, which largely coincided with Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza.
