The United States has launched strikes on Iran-aligned forces in Iraq after a drone attack that wounded three US service members, one of them critically, the White House has announced.
US President Joe Biden ordered the strikes on three sites used by Kataeb Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq, US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement on Monday night.
Watson said the strikes “focused specifically on unmanned aerial drone activities”.
“The President places no higher priority than the protection of American personnel serving in harm’s way,” she said. “The United States will act at a time and in a manner of our choosing should these attacks continue.”
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said the “necessary and proportionate” strikes were intended to “disrupt and degrade” the capabilities of Iran-aligned groups responsible for attacks against US personnel, including a drone attack on the Erbil Air Base on Monday.
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The United States carried out strikes against three targets of Kataib Hezbollah and associated groups in Iraq in response to a drone attack on Erbil Air Base where coalition forces are stationed, the US Department of Defense said on Tuesday.
ReplyDeleteOn Monday, the Iraqi military said that a military base hosting the US-led international coalition forces near the airport of Erbil had been attacked by a drone.
"Today, at President Biden's direction, US military forces conducted necessary and proportionate strikes on three facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq," Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin said in a statement.