The United States military conducted “defensive” airstrikes against five Kata’ib Hizbollah (KH) weapons storage facilities across Iraq, significantly degrading the Iran-backed Shia militia’s ability to conduct future attacks against coalition forces, the Pentagon said Thursday.
“These strikes were defensive, proportional, and in direct response to the threat posed by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups (SMG) who continue to attack bases hosting [Operation Inherent Resolve] coalition forces,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
A rocket attack on Camp Taji on Wednesday killed one U.K. and two U.S. service members and wounded 14 others.
“The United States will not tolerate attacks against our people, our interests, or our allies,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in a statement. “As we have demonstrated in recent months, we will take any action necessary to protect our forces in Iraq and the region.”
The Pentagon discussed the protection of U.S. and coalition forces with senior Iraqi officials, according to the department.
“A number of SMGs, including KH, have a strong linkage with Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Qods Force and have repeatedly received lethal aid and other support from Iran that they have used to attack coalition forces,” the statement said.
“These SMGs and their Iranian supporters must cease their attacks on U.S. and coalition forces or face consequences at a time and place of our choosing,” it said.
The Pentagon killed IRGC-Quds Force Leader Qasem Soleimani in January after KH conducted attacked that resulted in the death of a U.S. contractor on December 27 and wounded U.S. troops and Iraqi personnel.
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