US launches attack on Iran-backed forces in Iraq, first since February

The US launched an attack on Tuesday against Iranian-backed forces in Iraq, the first attack on the country since February’s massive strikes.

US fighter jets attacked several Iran-aligned militia groups in Babil province south of Baghdad, according to Iraqi officials, killing several fighters.

Yehia Rasool, spokesman for the commander of Iraq’s armed forces, said it was a “serious and uncalculated transgression” for his country and that the attack could undermine its ability to fight ISIS.

“They also risk dragging Iraq and the entire region into dangerous conflicts and wars,” Rasool said in a statement. post on social platform. “Therefore, we maintain the [U.S.] Coalition forces fully responsible for these consequences following this blatant aggression.”

The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), the Iraqi armed security group that includes Iranian-backed militias, condemned the attack in a statement shared by pro-Iranian media outlets, but did not name the US as the aggressor.

But the PMF also urged Iraq to “join efforts to take an immediate decision to expel foreign forces from our country.”

US authorities told Reuters that US forces carried out an attack on Musayib, in Babil province, in response to a drone launch threat by Iranian-backed militias, who also fired rockets at a US base in Iraq last week.

The attack is likely to complicate ongoing dialogue between Iraq and the United States to negotiate the presence of American troops in the country.

About 2,500 U.S. troops remain in Iraq to combat extremist terrorist groups like ISIS, but Iraqi officials have expressed a desire for forces to leave the country, possibly by September, according to Reuters.

US forces fought Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria between late October and February. Iranian proxies began firing at American bases following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on October 7.

But the latest US strike in February, which followed a militia drone attack that killed three American soldiers in Jordan, appears to have deterred Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria so far. The Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen have not stopped attacking ships in the Red Sea since late October.

Tuesday’s US strike came on the same day that Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander in Beirut. An attack on Wednesday in Iran also killed Hamas’s top leader, Ismail Haniyeh, an attack that Tehran blamed on Israel.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story