Was chargeable for ”immediately planning and taking part in assaults” on American troops within the area, U.S. army says.
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Printed Feb 07, 2024 • 3 minute learn
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BAGHDAD — A U.S. drone strike blew up a automotive within the Iraqi capital Wednesday evening, killing a high-ranking commander of the highly effective Kataib Hezbollah militia who’s chargeable for “immediately planning and taking part in assaults” on American troops within the area, the U.S. army stated Wednesday.
The precision blast hit a important thoroughfare within the Mashtal neighborhood in jap Baghdad, attracting a crowd as emergency groups picked by the wreckage. It got here amid roiling tensions within the area, and can doubtless additional anger Iraqi authorities leaders, who U.S. officers stated weren’t notified prematurely of the strike.
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Safety forces closed off the closely guarded Inexperienced Zone, the place a lot of diplomatic compounds are positioned, and there have been considerations about social media postings urging protesters to storm the U.S. embassy.
There have been conflicting experiences on the variety of these killed, with U.S. officers saying the preliminary evaluation was one, and saying there have been no civilians harm or killed. However two officers with Iran-backed militias in Iraq stated that three died, together with Wissam Muhammad Sabir Al-Saadi, referred to as Abu Baqir Al-Saadi, the commander in command of Kataib Hezbollah’s operations in Syria. Kataeb Hezbollah later introduced his demise “following the bombing of the American occupation forces” in a press release.
These officers spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk to journalists.
In a press release, U.S. Central Command stated “there aren’t any indications of collateral harm or civilian casualties right now.” It added that the U.S. “won’t hesitate to carry accountable all those that threaten our forces’ security.”
The strike — which got here at 9:30 p.m. native time — is definite to inflame already seething relations between Washington and Baghdad. It comes simply days after the U.S. army launched an air assault on dozens of websites in Iraq and Syria utilized by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for a drone strike that killed three U.S. troops and injured greater than 40 others at a base in Jordan in late January.
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The U.S. has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for the assault in Jordan. President Joe Biden and different high leaders have repeatedly warned that the U.S. would proceed to retaliate towards these chargeable for the Jordan assault. And officers have recommended that key militia leaders can be doubtless targets.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has recurrently claimed strikes on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria towards the backdrop of the continued Israel-Hamas struggle, saying that they’re in retaliation for Washington’s assist of Israel in its struggle in Gaza that has killed greater than 27,000 Palestinians, in response to the Well being Ministry within the Hamas-run territory.
There have been almost 170 assaults on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 18, however the newest drone strike in Jordan — the one one in that nation to this point — was the primary to take American troops’ lives. The U.S., in response, has struck again a couple of half dozen occasions since Oct. 27, concentrating on weapons storage websites, command and management facilities, coaching services and different places utilized by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian-backed teams, together with Kataib Hezbollah.
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Wednesday’s U.S. strike in Iraq’s capital drew comparisons to the 2020 drone strike in Baghdad that killed Iran’s Quds Drive chief Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in response to assaults on U.S. bases there and an assault on the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. That bombing additionally killed Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy commander of Iran-backed militias in Iraq referred to as the Common Mobilization Forces. And it enraged Iraqi leaders, triggering calls for for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the nation.
Kataib Hezbollah had stated in a press release that it was suspending assaults on American troops to keep away from “embarrassing the Iraqi authorities” after the strike in Jordan, however others have vowed to proceed combating.
On Sunday, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed a drone assault on a base housing U.S. troops in jap Syria killed six fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led group allied with the US.
The newest surge within the regional battle got here shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected phrases proposed by Hamas for a hostage-release settlement that might result in a everlasting cease-fire, vowing to proceed the struggle till “absolute victory.”
Additionally on Wednesday, the media workplace of the Houthi rebels in Yemen reported two airstrikes in Ras Issa space in Salif district in Hodeida province.
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Madhani and Baldor reported from Washington. Related Press journalist Ali Jabar in Baghdad contributed to this report.
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