A major Iraqi anti-terror group says it will continue its “painful” attacks on American forces as long as the occupation troops remain in the Arab country and the region.
Kata’ib Hezbollah (Hezbollah Brigades) made the announcement in a statement on Wednesday after the US military launched airstrikes on facilities used by the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), which is an umbrella group for resistance movements in Iraq.
It said the United States had committed another crime by bombing the PMU headquarters in Jurf al-Sakhr, in central Iraq, and the Western towns of al-Qa’im and Tarbil, which killed one and injured three people.
The continued US attacks require resistance fighters “to expand the scope of their retaliatory strikes from the military bases used by the US occupation forces to their interests in Iraq and the entire region,” it added.
“Iraq’s resistance will keep supporting Gaza and the Israeli-occupied Palestine while conducting painful attacks on US occupation forces until they are driven out of Iraq and the region.”
The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said Wednesday’s unilateral strikes were a response to attacks on American bases, including the one carried out last week on Ain al-Asad in Iraq’s western province of Anbar.
The Iraqi government condemned the US air raids, saying, “This unacceptable act … blatantly violates Iraq’s sovereignty and leads to an irresponsible escalation.”
“We will treat these operations as acts of aggression and take necessary actions to preserve the lives and dignity of Iraqis on their land,” read a statement released by the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani.
In the past few months, Iraqi resistance forces have conducted dozens of strikes on the US-run military installations in both Iraq and Syria amid growing anti-US sentiments in the region over Washington’s support for Israel’s genocidal aggression against the Gaza Strip.
Israel waged its brutal war following a historic operation by the Gaza-based Hamas resistance group against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people.
However, 111 days into the offensive, the Tel Aviv regime has failed to achieve its objectives in Gaza despite killing at least 25,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injuring 63,740 others.
The US is a partner in the Gaza carnage as it has supplied Israel with weapons and intelligence support, and blocked UN resolutions calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian territory.
