The United States military carried out an airstrike in Baghdad on Thursday, which an Iraqi military spokesman described as a “blatant assassination” that contributes to instability in the region.
U.S. Central Command carried out the strike at 9:30 p.m. local time that killed a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander, whom it did not name but said had been responsible for planning and participating in attacks carried out by this militia targeting U.S. forces in Syria, Iraq, and Jordan.
Major General Special Forces Yehia Rasool, the spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, said the U.S.’s strike demonstrated “no regard for civilian lives or international laws,” and “By this act, the American forces jeopardize civil peace, violate Iraqi sovereignty, and disregard the safety and lives of our citizens. Even more concerning is that the coalition consistently deviates from the reasons and objectives for its presence on our territory.”
The U.S. has troops in Iraq and Syria to ensure the lasting defeat of the Islamic State, though the Pentagon and their Iraqi counterparts are discussing the next stage in their military partnership. These discussions were originally announced last August, before the explosion of aggression in the Middle East.
“This trajectory compels the Iraqi government more than ever to terminate the mission of this coalition, which has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict, and our armed forces cannot neglect their constitutional duties and responsibilities, which demand safeguarding the security of Iraqis and the land of Iraq from all threats,” Rasool added.
Militias in Iraq and Syria have carried out more than 165 strikes and attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan since mid-October. Only one of these attacks took place in Jordan, and it targeted Tower 22, a small U.S. military outpost in northeast Jordan near its borders with Syria and Iraq, on Jan. 28 and it resulted in the deaths of 3 U.S. service members and more than 40 others who were wounded.
The U.S. declared it would carry out a multi-phased response to killing U.S. forces. The first part of the U.S. response was last Friday, when they launched a significant number of strikes in both Iraq and Syria. They struck more than 85 targets using more than 125 precision munitions at seven facilities, three in Iraq and four in Syria.
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U.S. forces had carried out limited strikes before its response to the deaths of three of their own, including one in Baghdad in early January that targeted another leader of an Iranian-backed militia.
The militias continue to carry out these attacks despite the U.S. response.
