Attacks targeted Iran-backed militia, which Pentagon blames for Wednesday’s killing of two US soldiers and UK servicewoman

The Pentagon has confirmed that US forces carried out airstrikes in Iraq against what it described as five weapons storage sites run by an Iranian-back militia, in retaliation for a rocket attack which killed two American and one British soldier near Baghdad.

The tit-for-tat attacks come just two months after a similar escalation brought the US and Iran to the brink of direct conflict. This time the two sides are facing off in Iraq while struggling to contain coronavirus outbreaks at home.

The head of US Central Command, marine general Frank McKenzie, said that the US had struck arms caches run by Kata’ib Hezbollah, a paramilitary group with strong ties with Tehran, which the US blames for Wednesday’s rocket attack.

McKenzie said the US military was aware of other locations of Kata’ib Hezbollah sites but had not struck them because of the risk of civilian casualties.

“When we look at sites, very often they’re commingled with civilian activity and there’s a very high probability of civilian damage if we strike those sites,” McKenzie said. “The United States is not going to do that.”

But he warned of more US retribution if there are further Kata’ib Hezbollah attacks.

“They know there’s going to be a significant cost if they persist in this behavior in the future” he said. “We’re prepared to make them pay that cost.”

The focus on reprisals solely against Katai’ib Hezbollah, and not its Iranian backers appeared to represent a de-escalation. Previous administration policy was that it would respond to any attack by an Iranian-backed militia as if it was a direct attack by Iran itself.

McKenzie said he had asked his Iraqi counterparts to take action and close down the sites. Iraq’s president, Barham Salih, condemned the US airstrikes as a violation of national sovereignty and warned that the country was in danger of slipping into chaos and becoming a failed state. The government in Baghdad said it would submit a complaint about the airstrikes to the UN security council.

Rocket attack on Iraq base leaves two Americans and one UK soldier dead Read more

The defence secretary, Mark Esper, told reporters at the Pentagon on Thursday that Donald Trump had authorised him to take whatever action he deemed necessary.

The British defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said the UK supported the right of the US to defend itself, “as they have done tonight”. He said the “coalition stands shoulder to shoulder in Iraq” and that “those who seek to harm our [UK] armed forces can expect to receive a strong response”.

Two US soldiers and a British combat medic were killed and 14 other soldiers were wounded when 18 rockets hit Camp Tanji on Wednesday. The US military said the 107mm Katyusha rockets were fired from a truck launcher that was found by Iraqi security forces near the base after the attack.

The Briton killed on Wednesday, was named as L/Cpl Brodie Gillon, a reservist who served as a frontline medic with the Scottish and North Irish Yeomanry, and volunteered for a deployment in Iraq this year.

Kata’ib Hezbollah was responsible for a late December rocket attack on a military base in Kirkuk that killed a US contractor, prompting American military strikes in response. That led to protests outside the US embassy in Baghdad organised by pro-Iranian militias and then the US drone assassination of Iran’s most powerful Revolutionary Guard general, Qassem Suleimani.

In response, Iran fired ballistic missiles against al-Asad airbase in Iraq, which resulted in traumatic brain injuries to more than 100 US troops.

McKenzie on Friday it was “too soon to tell” if Iran would seek further revenge for Suleimani’s death.

“None of their core objectives have changed,” he said. “It’s merely their ability to execute and their ability to make decisions” that had been effected by his killing.

“I am closely monitoring the airstrikes by American forces in Iraq. Anyone who harms or kills an American is going to face consequences and American forces always have a right to defend themselves,” said Eliot Engel, the Democratic chair of the House foreign affairs committee.

“But looking at the whole picture, airstrikes clearly don’t advance our broader interest of deterring Iran and don’t constitute a strategy. This administration lurches from crisis to crisis with no plan. The result is that we’re now closer to war with a country that’s closer to possessing a nuclear weapon. It’s dangerous and irresponsible.”