US fighter aircraft strike Hezbollah targets in Iraq after attacks on bases

Iraqi mourners carry the coffin of Fadel al-Maksusi, a Kataeb Hezbollah fighter who was also part of the Islamic resistance in Iraq, the group that has claimed all recent attacks against US troops in Iraq and Syria, during a funeral in Baghdad on November 21. (Image: AFP)

US fighter aircraft struck two Hezbollah operations centers in Iraq in response to attacks on US bases that have escalated alongside Israel’s operations against Hamas in Gaza, two defense officials said.

They said attacks on US bases included the first use of a short-range ballistic missile against US troops, which happened on November 21.

The US fighter jets struck Kataib Hezbollah operations center and a Kataib Hezbollah Command and Control node near Al Anbar and Jurf al Saqr, south of Baghdad, on Tuesday, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to provide additional sensitive details of the attacks. There were Kataib Hezbollah personnel at both sites at the time of the strikes but the officials said they could not yet confirm whether anyone there was killed.

The US strike followed another immediate, unplanned retaliatory strike by an AC-130 gunship that was in the air when the Iranian-backed militants fired two short-range ballistic missiles at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq late November 20 evening. The gunship was able to locate the origin of the missiles, and fired on several militants who had fled in a vehicle.

The officials said the US is trying to communicate that it does not seek wider conflict but that the Iran-backed attacks against American forces must stop, and that the US will take further action if needed.

To date, US bases in Iraq and Syria have been struck 66 times since October 17, the day a blast at a hospital in Gaza killed hundreds.