The U.S. military struck three sites used by Iran-backed terrorist forces in Iraq on Monday in response to a one-way drone attack that wounded three American personnel earlier in the day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
As Breitbart News reported, the strike by an Iran-backed in northern Iraq came on Christmas Day and left one U.S. service member in a critical condition.
The troops were stationed in Erbil, Iraq, according to Central Command (Centcom).
It is the first time a U.S. service member has been critically injured in the wave of Iran-backed attacks against U.S. troops since they began on October 17, 2023. To date, there have been more than 100 attacks against U.S. troops in the region.
“U.S. military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by Kataeb Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq,” Austin said in a statement as reported by AFP.
“These precision strikes are a response to a series of attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias, including an attack by Iran-affiliated Kataeb Hezbollah and affiliated groups on Arbil Air Base earlier today,” he said.
The drone attack was claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose formation of armed terror groups affiliated with the Hashed al-Shaabi coalition of former paramilitaries that are now integrated into Iraq’s regular armed forces.
A tally by U.S. military officials has counted 103 attacks against its troops in Iraq and Syria since October 17, most of which have been claimed by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which opposes U.S. support for Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
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The White House / YouTubeThe latest round of the Israel-Hamas conflict began when the Palestinian terrorist group carried out a shock cross-border attack from Gaza into Israel on October 7.
There are roughly 2,500 American troops in Iraq and some 900 in Syria as part of efforts to prevent a resurgence of the Islamic State group.
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