The Wednesday strike came “in response to the attacks” on US troops and killed “a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region,” the military’s Central Command said on social media.
Kata’ib Hezbollah identified the senior commander as Abu Baqr al-Saadi, and referred to the rest of the victims as other ranking officials.
Citing “two security sources,” Reuters news agency said the attack targeted a vehicle belonging to Iraq’s Hashd al-Sha’abi or Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) umbrella anti-terror group, of which Kata’ib Hezbollah is a member.
Osama Hamdan, the Palestinian resistance movement of Hamas’ senior representative in Lebanon, reacted to the drone strike, calling it an attack on Iraq’s sovereignty.
The attack came nearly a week after the United States carried out a flurry of airstrikes against at least 85 targets at seven locations across Iraq and neighboring Syria, using more than 125 “precision munitions.”
Washington has described the airstrikes as the beginning of “retaliatory” assaults against, what it called, those who were responsible for a recent deadly attack against American forces in Jordan.
Kata’ib Hezbollah has roundly denounced the airstrikes, stating that the attacks emanate from the US administration’s criminal mindset and its craving for more bloodshed.
Back in December, the group vowed that its fighters would remain prepared with “their fingers on the trigger” until complete expulsion of all American occupation forces from the Arab country.
Also on Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani likewise censured the US military’s latest airstrikes against positions manned by anti-terror resistance groups, asserting, “Any kind of military attack on the Iraqi territory is unacceptable.”
Sudani, who was speaking in an interview with the al-Arabiya television news network, said the US-led military coalition purportedly formed to fight the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group would eventually wind down its presence in Iraq.
MNA/Press TV
