ERBIL – Iraq on Tuesday confirmed the death of one service member and the injury of 18 people including civilians in US strikes on what Washington claims were bases belonging to an Iran-backed militia group.

“The Iraqi government condemns what happened at dawn today,” a statement issued by the Iraqi prime minister’s office noted shortly after the airstrikes on December 26, “in which Iraqi military sites were targeted by the American side under the pretext of response, which led to the martyrdom of one member of the security forces and the injury of 18 others including civilians.”

A suicide drone on Monday had targeted US-led coalition forces based at the Erbil International Airport, wounding three American service members. One was critically injured and airlifted out of the country for emergency treatment. 

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of Iran-backed militias affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), claimed responsibility for the attack shortly after it was conducted.

Israel blamed for killing top-level Iranian commander in Syria

Iran’s most prominent commander in Syria, Reza Mousavi, who IRGC-linked media called a close aide to Qassem Soleimani, was killed in an airstrike widely attributed to Israel. Soleimani and Iraqi commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were killed by the US outside the Baghdad airport in January 2020. 

Mousavi is widely believed to have been tasked with overseeing logistic transfers between Iran, Syria, and Lebanon as well as managing financial transfers from Iran to Syria including payments to foreign fighters.

Iran vowed retaliation against both the US and Israel for Mousavi’s killing.

Iranian strikes on American positions of interest intensified following the assassination of IRGC commander Soleimani upon direct orders of former US President Donald Trump on January 3, 2020.

Iran has more recently increased the volume of its proxy attacks in response to continued US support of Israel in the war in the Gaza Strip.

CENTCOM targets Kataib Hezbollah on Biden’s orders 

US Central Command early morning Tuesday announced it had carried out a series of strikes against facilities used by Iran-linked armed group Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups in Iraq.

“There are no indications that any civilian lives were affected. The US military will continue to evaluate the effectiveness of these strikes,” the statement said.

US National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson on Tuesday confirmed that the strikes in Iraq were conducted upon direct orders from President Joe Biden. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the US government “will not hesitate to take necessary action to defend the United States, our troops, and our interests.”

US troops and diplomatic missions in Iraq and Syria have been the target of dozens of attacks conducted by Iran-backed militia groups since the October 7 Hamas led attack on Israel.

Since October 17, there have been at least 103 attacks by Iran-linked armed groups on US forces in Iraq and Syria, according to a US defense ministry official who spoke on condition that he not be identified. He added that US forces had been attacked 48 times in Iraq and 55 in Syria.

Iraq has on several occasions called on both the US and Iran to not use Iraqi territory for settling scores.

In the statement published on Tuesday, the prime minister called on both sides to respect the sovereignty of Iraq and stressed “that this step harms bilateral relations between the two countries.”

He added that it would complicate attempts to “reach understandings through joint dialogue to end the presence of the international coalition” and that, above all, the attacks are an “unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty”.