BAGHDAD (AP) – A U.S. drone strike hit a car in the Iraqi capital Wednesday night, killing three members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, including a high-ranking commander, officials said. did.
The strike took place on a main street in Baghdad's eastern Mashtar district. Crowds gathered as emergency response teams searched the wreckage. Security forces cordoned off the heavily guarded Green Zone, home to many diplomatic facilities, amid calls for protesters to storm the US embassy.
Two U.S. officials familiar with the matter said Wednesday's U.S. strike in Iraq targeted senior Kataib Hezbollah leaders. They were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Two Iranian-backed militia officials in Iraq said one of the three killed was Wissam Mohammed “Abu Bakr” al-Saadi, the commander in charge of Kataib Hezbollah operations in Syria. He said it was. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists.
The airstrikes came days after U.S. forces launched airstrikes on dozens of bases in Iraq and Syria amid rising tensions in the region. Iranian-backed militia and Iran's Revolutionary Guards in retaliation. Three US soldiers killed in drone attack In Jordan in late January.
The United States has blamed Iraq's Islamic Resistance Army, a broad Iran-backed militia, for the attack on Jordan, and officials have said they particularly suspect Kataib Hezbollah as its leader.
Iraq's Islamic resistance group regularly advocates attacks on US military bases in Iraq and Syria against the backdrop of the ongoing situation. israel-hamas warThe move was in retaliation for the U.S. government's support for Israel in the Gaza war, which has killed 27,707 Palestinians, according to the agency. Ministry of Health in Hamas-controlled areas.
Kataib Hezbollah said in a statement after the Jordan airstrike that it would suspend attacks on U.S. forces to avoid “embarrassing the Iraqi government,” but other groups have also vowed to continue fighting.
Islamic resistance movement in Iraq on Sunday claimed a drone attack Six fighters from the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led group allied with the US, were killed at a US military base in eastern Syria.
The latest surge in regional conflicts came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office on Wednesday. The terms proposed by Hamas were rejected. They called for a hostage release agreement that would lead to a permanent cease-fire, and vowed to continue the war until “absolute victory.”
Also on Wednesday, the Yemeni Houthi rebels' media office reported two airstrikes in the Ras Issa area of Salih district, Hodeidah province.
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Madani reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Ali Jabar in Baghdad and Lolita Baldor in Washington contributed to this report.
