A U.S. airstrike killed an Iran-linked militia commander there on Thursday, raising the risk of accelerating regional fallout from Washington's support for Israel's military operation in Gaza, even as the Biden administration tries to contain the bloodshed.
Explosions rang out in the central part of the city, which forced the Iraqi authorities to block the nearby streets. The Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba militia, which has claimed responsibility for several attacks on U.S. troops, said its deputy commander for operations in the Baghdad region, Mushtaq Talib al-Saidi, also known as Abu Taqwa, was killed at the logistics headquarters. technical support on the street of Palestine.
Although the United States has struck targets linked to militants in Iraq and Syria several times in recent months, an American operation in such a central location in the Iraqi capital is extremely rare. Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba is under the command of the Iraqi military, which responded quickly — and angrily — by saying the accords between Baghdad and Washington had been violated.
Pentagon spokesman Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder called the strike a "necessary and proportionate action" against a militant leader who is "actively involved in the planning and execution of attacks on American personnel." Abu Taqi's "accomplice" was also killed, Ryder said, although he did not identify the person. The general said no civilians were injured and no infrastructure was damaged in the strike, a claim The Washington Post could not independently verify.
Thursday's violence underscored tensions that have gripped much of the Middle East since fighting broke out between Israel and Hamas in early October. In recent days, incidents in Lebanon and the Red Sea have heightened concerns that the fighting in Gaza will spill beyond the Palestinian enclave and draw the United States into a much larger conflict with groups armed by Iran.
Ryder declined to say whether the United States had notified the Iraqi government before the strike. Asked whether Washington had violated any deal with Baghdad, he said the Pentagon reserves the right to defend itself anywhere US forces are threatened.
Photos purportedly taken at the site of the airstrike and released by the militia publication Sabereen News show fragments of a weapon consistent with the US Joint Air-to-Ground Missile, or JAGM, a new missile that is supposed to replace the old ones. ammunition such as Hellfire. The Post was unable to independently verify the authenticity of the images.
When residents of nearby neighborhoods learned that American troops had caused the explosion, some expressed fears that more violence would erupt.
"It shows that peace is short-lived," said Sarah Jamal, 27, who lives a few blocks from the attack. "It all started in Syria, then in Lebanon, then in Iran and now here. We're being dragged into it and we don't have a say."
As black smoke billowed over residential streets littered with blood and human remains, some people wept. Others vowed revenge against the United States. "No American soldiers will remain in Iraq!" shouted one man, firing a gun into the air.
About 2,500 US troops are based in the country to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State terror network, which on Thursday claimed responsibility for a deadly attack in Iran a day earlier. Another 900 American servicemen are scattered across several outposts in Syria, tasked with the same mission.
The Biden administration says it is working to prevent the Gaza war, which began when Hamas militants killed 1,200 people in Israeli border communities, from spreading to other parts of the Middle East. But in Iraq and Syria, Washington's support for Israel — as the death toll among Palestinians has topped 22,000, according to Gaza's health ministry — has given local militia groups new impetus to try to oust US-led coalition forces.
U.S. officials have recorded about 120 attacks since Oct. 17, with most of them carried out by drones, missiles or both. Late last month, after a militia attack in northern Iraq left a US serviceman in critical condition, the Pentagon hit back and said they likely killed several militants. Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who last year supported the need for US troops in Iraq to prevent the resurgence of Islamic State, said US retaliation in this case killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded 18 others, including among civilians.
Thursday's attack is likely to increase pressure on the Iraqi government to speed up the end of the coalition presence, 2 1/2 years after the official end of their combat mission. Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool Abdullah described the strike as "no different from terrorist acts" and said the military held the US-led coalition responsible for the attack on the group under its command.
"We consider this attack a dangerous escalation and an attack on Iraq that is far removed from the spirit and text of the authorization and work for which the international coalition exists in Iraq," Abdullah said in a statement.
The issue of the permanent presence of US troops is being discussed in the framework of a joint dialogue between Iraqi and US officials. In recent days, al-Sudani has signaled that it may be time to end the presence of American and allied forces in Iraq, citing the growing capabilities of Iraqi forces.
While al-Sudani's government prefers a deal that equalizes the two countries rather than one that gives the impression of continuing to host the military that invaded the country two decades ago, Washington has been wary of fully withdrawing from one of its biggest known theaters. during the period of growing regional tensions.
“This has put the [Iraqi] government in a very difficult position. The effect is that it hardens public opinion" against a remaining US troop presence, said Sajjad Jiyad, a fellow at the Century Foundation.
Thursday's strike was likely intended as a way to signal that any future attacks on U.S. forces would be responded to, Sajjad said. But that strategy, he added, has "great potential for escalation, great potential for miscalculation."
The strike comes nearly four years after President Donald Trump ordered the killing of Iran's most powerful military strategist, Major General Qassem Soleimani, as he was leaving Baghdad airport with his Iraqi counterpart, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis . It was a decision that pushed Iran and the United States to the brink of war on Iraqi soil, as Tehran launched ballistic missiles at American troops and Iraq's red-hot parliament voted to expel America.
On Thursday, some Iraqi officials said it was time to finish the job.
"We call on the Iraqi government to take decisive action to end the presence of the so-called international coalition in Iraq," said Qais al-Khazali, who heads the influential Iran-linked Asaib al-Haq militia. This, he said, would involve "ceasing the pretexts that Americans use to extend their presence on our land and in our skies."
The conflict in Gaza has escalated on fronts in the Middle East, as Iran-linked groups opposed to the US presence and Israeli policies have launched their own retaliatory attacks, and in Lebanon, an alleged Israeli airstrike killed senior Hamas leader Saleh. Aruri on Tuesday. In a speech widely watched in the region, Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Lebanese militant group and political party Hezbollah, promised "response and punishment".
In Israel, US Ambassador Amos Hochstein met with Israeli officials as part of ongoing efforts to broker a deal that could avert a wider conflict along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
Deepening the quagmire, Houthi fighters blew up a one-way unmanned surface vessel in a shipping lane off Yemen's coast on Thursday, a US admiral said, despite what the White House called a day earlier a "very serious warning" to back off.
Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of US naval forces in the Middle East, told reporters at a briefing that the militants' use of an unmanned surface ship was "concerning" and a "new potential". The vessel was launched from Yemen and "clearly intended to cause harm," Cooper said.
A coalition of more than 20 countries has joined the United States under the umbrella of Operation Prosperity Guardian in an effort to secure shipping lanes in the Red Sea, officials said. No commercial vessels were harmed by the start of the operation, although some came close. Since December 18, 11 drones, two cruise missiles, and six anti-ship ballistic missiles have been shot down, and on December 31, U.S. forces sank three speedboats after they opened fire on U.S. helicopters.
U.S. sailors have also shot down 61 missiles or drones launched from Yemen since October, and there are now far more warships and reconnaissance flights over the southern Red Sea than there have been in years, Cooper said.
On Tuesday, Cooper visited the USS Carney, a destroyer that has responded to multiple Houthi attacks in recent weeks, and awarded American sailors with combat ribbons. The military award indicates they were engaged in direct combat, although administration officials said it was unclear whether the U.S. ships were direct targets or simply happened to be nearby during the attack.
Cooper said U.S. military personnel took "the proper approach by defending themselves and shooting down those missiles."
"Easy," he said, "as is the fact that the sailors who took part in it were awarded the Combat Action Ribbon."
