Three people, including two leaders of an Iraqi armed group, were killed on Wednesday, February 7, in a drone attack on a vehicle in eastern Baghdad. The US military claims to have carried out the attack in retaliation for attacks against its forces in the region.
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Two commanders of the Hezbollah Brigades, an influential pro-Iranian Iraqi armed group, and their driver died on Wednesday, February 7, in Iraq in a drone attack targeting their vehicle in the capital, Baghdad, an attack that occurs in an unstable regional context.
The drone attack comes at a time when Washington has vowed to continue retaliating against pro-Iran armed groups, after a drone attack on January 28 killed three US soldiers in the Jordanian desert, in the border with Syria.
USCENTCOM Conducts Strike Killing Kata'ib Hezbollah Senior Leader
At 9:30 pm (Baghdad Time) February 7, US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on US service members, killing a Kata'ib Hezbollah commander… pic.twitter.com/Zhkjimx5UG
— US Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 7, 2024
Abu Baqir al-Saadi, commander of the Hezbollah Brigades (Kataëb Hezbollah in Arabic), was killed in the attack, an official from this influential faction told AFP on condition of anonymity, adding that this leader was in charge of “military affairs” in Syria.
In total, three people, “two leaders” of the Hezbollah Brigades and their driver, died in the attack on the vehicle, an Interior Ministry official told AFP, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.
“A drone fired three rockets at a 4×4 car” in the Machtal neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, the person responsible told AFP.
For its part, the US military claimed that it had carried out the attack in retaliation for attacks against its forces in the region and that it had killed a Hezbollah brigade commander.
An AFP photographer who was in the area saw a large security deployment blocking all access to the site of the attack. By nightfall, the body had been removed.
Almost a week ago, the United States had already carried out attacks in Syria and Iraq against targets of Iranian elite forces and pro-Iranian armed groups, in retaliation for the drone attack in Jordan.
Read alsoUS bombs militias in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for attack in Jordan
“Footprint of the brigades”
For weeks, the Iraqi government has been unable to disengage from regional tensions, despite intense diplomatic efforts with its partners, especially the United States and Iran.
More than 165 attacks since mid-October have targeted US soldiers and their partners in the international anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq and Syria, violence fueled by the war in Gaza between Israel and the Palestinian movement Hamas.
Most of these drone and rocket attacks were claimed by a nebulous group of pro-Iran armed groups known as the Islamic Resistance.
The Hezbollah Brigades are considered the spearhead of this group, which highlights its solidarity with Gaza and calls for the departure of US troops from Iraq.
Classified as a “terrorist” group by Washington and subject to sanctions, Hezbollah brigades have already been the target of US attacks in Iraq in recent weeks.
Faced with the threat of US retaliation following the attack in Jordan, the group announced in late January that it was “suspending” its attacks against US forces, while calling on its fighters to “practice passive defense in the event of hostile US action.” Against them”.
Washington officials have already claimed that the drone attack in Jordan bore “the hallmarks of the Hezbollah Brigades.”
The latest US bombings carried out almost a week ago in Iraq, in areas bordering Syria, killed 16 fighters from the Hashd al-Shaabi, a coalition of former pro-Iran paramilitaries integrated into the security apparatus of the Iraqi State and which brings together factions pro-Iranian armies.
With AFP
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