Baghdad has denounced as “unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty” the United States’ latest airstrikes against three sites used by anti-terror resistance forces in the country that left one serviceman dead and 18 others wounded.
The Iraqi government made the remarks in a statement on Tuesday, describing the US strikes as “clear hostile acts”, warning that they would “harm bilateral relations.”
The latest development came a day after the US military carried out airstrikes against three facilities used by Kata’ib Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Hillah city, south of the capital Baghdad.
An Iraqi security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Arabic-language al-Sumaria television channel that 18 people sustained injuries in the strike, adding that a member of Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), also known as Hashd al-Sha’abi, was killed.
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said on Monday that these precision strikes were “a response to a series of attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria, including an attack by Kata’ib Hezbollah and affiliated groups on Erbil Air Base earlier today.”
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, in a statement published on its Telegram channel, claimed responsibility for the strike, which was carried out with a one-way attack drone and wounded three US military personnel.
According to US officials, at least 103 attacks against American troops in Iraq and Syria have been reported since mid-October.
There are roughly 2,500 American troops in Iraq and some 900 in Syria as part of, what Washington claims to be, a fighting force against Daesh. The US has maintained its presence, although, the Arab countries and their allies defeated the Takfiri terrorist group in late 2017.
