Iraq officials condemn deadly US strikes on Iran-backed militias

Senior Iraqi officials on Wednesday condemned retaliatory US airstrikes on sites belonging to an Iraqi militia, calling them a "dangerous escalation" and a breach of Iraq’s sovereignty.

Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, said eight of its members had been killed in a strike at its stronghold Jurf al-Sakhr near Baghdad on 

US Central Command said it had conducted airstrikes on two sites on Wednesday, though it did not specify where.

"The strikes were in direct response to the attacks against US and Coalition forces by Iran and Iran-backed groups," CENTCOM said  in a statement.

It said that one of the attacks conducted by the groups used "close-range ballistic missiles".

On the morning of November 22 in Iraq, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) forces conducted discrete, precision strikes against two facilities in Iraq. The strikes were in direct response to the attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces by Iran and Iran-backed groups, including the… pic.twitter.com/HySbSFNlp5

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) November 22, 2023

CENTCOM said hours earlier that it had used a gunship to struck militants who struck the Ain al-Asad base that hosts US and foreign troops on Tuesday.

There have been dozens of strikes on bases in Iraq and Syria that host troops from the US-led international coalition present in the two countries since Israel began its onslaught on Gaza on 7 October, which have killed more than 14,000 people in the Palestinian territory.

US officials have retaliated to such strikes several times since 7 October.

There are some 2,500 US troops in Iraq, whose stated aim is to train and advise Iraqi security forces fighting remnants of the Islamic State (IS) group. 

The US strikes were "conducted without the notice of the Iraqi government" in what was an "unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty", government spokesperson Basim al-Awadi said Wednesday.

"The recent events are seen as a clear violation of the coalition's mission, which is focused on combating ISIS (Islamic State) on Iraqi territory, Awadi said.

Iraq's parliament also condemned the US airstrikes.

The ruling Coordination Framework, an umbrella group of Shiite political parties said in a statement that it supported the Iraqi government position.

Some Iran-backed groups used the airstrikes to reiterate their calls for US troops to be expelled from Iraq.

Qais al-Khazali, who leads the Iran-backed Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq movement, said the strikes showed that the US presence was one of "occupying and arrogant combat forces".

Hadi al-Amiri, head of Iraq’s 'We Build' coalition also strongly condemned the attacks, calling on the Iraqi cabinet to urgently expel all "occupation" forces from the country.