A retaliatory strike by U.S. Special Operations in the Iraqi capital on Wednesday killed a senior leader of a militia that U.S. officials blame for recent attacks on U.S. personnel, the Pentagon said, following President Biden’s promise that the response to a series of attacks by The Shia militias will continue.
The Pentagon said the man was a leader of Kata’ib Hezbollah, the militia that officials said was responsible for a drone strike in Jordan last month that killed three US service members and wounded more than 40.
A US official said the strike was a “powerful” blow to the militia commander, who US intelligence officials had been monitoring for some time. A second official said the United States reserves the right to strike other Shiite militia leaders and commanders.
Videos from the scene showed the wreckage of a vehicle in an eastern Baghdad neighborhood and a nearby fire.
A senior official of Kata’ib Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said two commanders were killed in the attack. Witnesses said identity cards found with them identified them as Arkan al-Elayawi and Abu Baqir al-Saedi.
In response, crowds gathered in the streets of Baghdad, chanting “America is the devil.”
Major General Tahsin al-Khafaji, a spokesman for Iraq’s security services, called the strike an “aggression” and said it “violates Iraqi sovereignty and risks dangerous repercussions in the region.”
Wednesday’s strike came after three quieter days in the Middle East, after US attacks on Friday and Saturday set off what Mr Biden and his aides said would be a sustained campaign of retaliation.
On Monday, the Pentagon said US warplanes destroyed or severely damaged most of the Iranian and militia targets they had struck in Syria and Iraq on Friday.
Maj. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said “more than 80” of the roughly 85 targets in Syria and Iraq were destroyed or inoperable. The targets, he said, included command hubs. intelligence centers; depots for missiles, rockets and attack drones; as well as logistics and ammunition depots.
Iraq-based Kata’ib Hezbollah is considered a proxy for Iran, and the United States considers the group a terrorist organization.
US officials blame Iran and militias aligned with it for what has become a near-daily barrage of rocket and drone attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria since the war between Hamas and Israel began on October 7 . The Biden administration has sought to calibrate retaliatory airstrikes to deter such groups while avoiding a wider war.
But when a drone strike hit a remote base in Jordan on January 28, killing three US service members, administration officials said a red line had been crossed and Mr Biden vowed a sustained campaign of retaliation.
Following this strike, Kata’ib Hezbollah said it would cease attacks against US forces at the behest of the Iraqi and Iranian governments, reflecting Iran’s reluctance to directly confront the United States. But other groups involved in such attacks have not made similar commitments.
Back-to-back attacks in Syria, Iraq and Jordan — not to mention the attacks the United States and its allies have traded with the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen — have brought the region closer to a broader conflict, though that the government insists it does not want war with Iran. Instead, US officials say they are focused on neutralizing the militias’ formidable arsenals and preventing additional attacks on US troops as well as merchant ships in the Red Sea.
But by targeting Kata’ib Hezbollah commanders, the administration is sending a message to Iran and the militias that it believes any American life taken will be met with a strong response, US officials said.
In January, the Pentagon said the US had killed a leader of another Iraqi militia, Harakat al-Nujaba, which was involved in planning and carrying out attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria.
National security experts and officials say privately that to truly degrade the capability of Iranian-backed militias, the United States would need to mount a multiyear campaign similar to the six-year effort to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Even then, officials say, the militias, backed by Iran, could probably outlast the Islamic State, which has been pressured by the United States and Iran and even Russia. The United States should also target many more senior leaders and commanders.
Falih Hasan contributed reporting from Baghdad.
