US strike kills Kataib Hezbollah commander in Baghdad
BAGHDAD, February 7 - The U.S. military stated that a commander from Kataib Hezbollah, an armed organization in Iraq supported by Iran that the Pentagon accuses of assaulting its soldiers, was killed in an American strike on Wednesday.
"(U.S.) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on U.S. service members, killing a Kataib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region," according to a military statement. The commander's name was omitted.
There were no signs of civilian casualties, it continued.
Speaking under oath, two security officials identified the leader as Abu Baqir al-Saadi, who was slain in an east Baghdad drone attack on a car.
According to one of the sources, three persons were murdered, and the vehicle that was targeted belonged to the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) of Iraq, a state security organization made up of numerous armed factions, many of whom have ties to Iran.
The PMF is made up of militants and leaders from Kataib Hezbollah. The Pentagon claimed that a drone strike near the Jordan-Syria border in January claimed the lives of three American soldiers and had the "footprints" of Kataib Hezbollah. The organization then declared that it would no longer be engaging in armed combat with US forces stationed in the area.
Since the beginning of the Gaza conflict in October, there have been almost daily tit-for-tat attacks between hardline armed groups backed by Iran and U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq and Syria.
The United States said that its strikes on Iran-backed forces in Syria and Iraq this weekend were only the start of their response to the three U.S. soldiers that were killed.
A top militia commander was killed by a U.S. drone strike in central Baghdad in January. Washington claimed that the attack was retaliation for rocket and drone strikes on its forces.
According to a security source, Iraqi special forces were on high alert in Baghdad on Wednesday. Additional units were also stationed inside the Green Zone, which houses foreign diplomatic missions, including the US embassy.
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