BAGHDAD: Iraq on Thursday condemned a US air strike that killed a senior commander from a pro-Iran armed group accused of having been involved in attacks on American troops in the region.

The US attack on Wednesday came after a wave of strikes on Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria last week following the killing of three American troops in neighbouring Jordan on Jan 28.

The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the commander killed on Wednesday was targeted “in response to the attacks on US service members”.

The strike killed “a Kataeb Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region,” according to CENTCOM.

Iran says US ‘adventurism a threat to regional, international peace’

“The United States will continue to take necessary action to protect our people. We will not hesitate to hold responsible all those who threaten our forces’ safety,” it added.

Iraqi authorities slammed the strike as a “blatant assassination” in a residential neighbourhood of Baghdad.

“The international coalition is completely overstepping the reasons and objectives for which it is present on our territory,” said Yehia Rasool, the military spokesman for Iraq’s prime minister.

“This path pushes the Iraqi government more than ever before to end the coalition’s mission which has become a factor of instability for Iraq,” he added.

He was referring to the US-led international military alliance formed in 2014 to fight the Islamic State group — the year the militant group overran nearly a third of Iraq’s territory.

The Kataeb Hezbollah group — which announced it was suspending its attacks on US forces after the deadly Jordan attack — said one of its commanders had been killed, identifying him as Abu Baqr al-Saadi. The commander, whose funeral began on Thursday afternoon, was responsible for “military affairs” in Syria, an official from the group told AFP.

The Hashed al-Shaabi, a coalition of mainly pro-Iran paramilitaries — of which Kataeb Hezbollah is part — now integrated into Iraq’s regular security forces, also confirmed Saadi’s death.

An interior ministry official said a total of three people — two Kataeb Hezbollah leaders and their driver — had died in the strike.

‘Red lines’

The latest US strike sparked widespread condemnation in Iraq, with a pro-Iran parliamentary coalition dubbing it an attack on “Iraqi sovereignty”.

Washington has “crossed all red lines by targeting regular forces and men who contributed to defeating Islamic State terrorism,” said the Coordination Fram­ework, an alliance of pro-Iran parties that includes the Hashed al-Shaabi.

Iraq’s pro-Iran Al-Nujaba movement in a statement promised a “targeted retaliation”, saying that “these crimes will not go unpunished”.

Iran joined in the condemnation on Thursday, with Nasser Kanani, spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, calling the strike an act of “adventurism” that was “a threat to regional and international peace and stability”.

US and allied troops have been targeted more than 165 times in the Middle East during the past four months.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2024