The US carried out airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq after threats from the groups. The groups had paused attacks on US forces after a deadly attack by Kataib Hezbollah on US forces in Jordan in January in which three Americans were killed. However, in mid-July the Iranian-backed militias began their attacks again, first targeting US forces at Asad base in Iraq and then expanding the attacks to Syria.
“US forces in Iraq conducted a defensive airstrike in the Musayib in Babil Province, targeting combatants attempting to launch one-way attack uncrewed aerial systems (OWAUAS),” a US officials told ABC News. The strikes targeted a site south of Baghdad. The Iranian-backed militias in Iraq use these sites to stockpile weapons and munitions. “Based on recent attacks in Iraq and Syria, US Central Command assessed that the OWAUAS posed a threat to U.S. and Coalition Forces,” the US official told ABC.
Several people were killed in the strike, according to reports from Iraq. The incident came a day after the Iranian-backed militia Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba said that it would renew attacks on US forces.
Accordingg to reports at Al-Ain media in the UAE, an Iraqi security source said that the raid targeted Kataib Hezbollah. Kataib Hezbollah is considered the most deadly and sophisticated of the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. It was responsible for the killing of the three Americans in Jordan in January. The report said that the militia members were based at Al-Sa’idat and Al-Uwaisat (Jurf Al-Sakhr) areas in Babil Governorate, south of Baghdad.
The source told Al-Ain that seven were killed in the strike. Eight others were seriously injured. “During the air raid that targeted the Kataib militia units, drones were flying over the camps in the Al-Sa’idat and Al-Awisat.” The 47th Popular Mobilization Unit brigade is also based at the site. The PMU is an umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias. Many of the militias have their own brigades or multiple brigades within the force of approximately 100,000 fighters. Most of the PMU are made of Shi’ites in Iraq. Al-Ain reported that “Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani had requested a truce from the pro-Iranian Shiite militias in order to allow his government to negotiate with the United States on setting a timetable for the withdrawal of the international coalition forces fighting ISIS.”
Escalations in the Middle East
The incident in Iraq comes amid growing tension in the region. A key Hezbollah commander was killed in Beirut on July 30 and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran overnight between July 30 and July 31. The incidents in Iraq are part of this context. Iran uses the militias in Iraq to target US forces. It also has used them to target Israel. The Islamic “resistance” in Iraq, is an umbrella group that is linked to the militias and which has targeted Israel numerous times using drones. It usually targets Eilat. It has not had much success, but it is part of Iran’s multi-front war on Israel.
Iran also views the US as a major enemy in the region and wants to pressure US forces to leave Iraq and Syria. Since 2019 Iran has increased the use of militias in Iraq to target US forces. After numerous attacks in 2019 the US retaliated. That retaliation led to Iranian-backed groups attacking the US embassy and the US killed IRGC Quds Force head Qasem Soleimani in January 2020 in response.
It’s important to keep that context in mind when looking at Iraq because the type of incidents that are occurring there can also escalate to have wider regional implications. For instance, Kataib Hezbollah recently threatened Saudi Arabia. It has targeted Saudi Arabia in the past. Iran and Saudi Arabia reconciled over the last year and a half with support from China. However, tensions in the region could change these frameworks and lead to Kataib Hezbollah increasing its attacks around the Middle East.
