US officials said Sunday that U.S. air attacks in Iraq and Syria against an Iranian-backed militant group were successful but warned that "additional measures" could be taken in the region to defend American i
Officials
said the American army launched air raids in Iraq and Syria against the
Hezbollah Armed Brigades Group in response to the death of an American
civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base.
Top
U.S. national security advisors told President Donald Trump of the
attacks at his Mar Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla. American Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo said, “We will not tolerate the Islamic Ra
y, the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefly appeared in a club room to comment on
the air attacks.
Iraqi
security sources and others from the group said that at least 25
fighters were killed and at least 55 others were injured following three
air raids launched by the United States in Iraq on Sunday.
At
least four of the group's local leaders were killed and one of the air
raids targeted the headquarters of the Hezbollah Brigades near al-Qaim
in the western part of the country on the border with Syria, the sources
said.
The
Pentagon said in a statement that the attack targeted three sites of
the Iranian-backed group in Iraq and two in Syria, adding that the sites
included weapons storage facilities, command and control sites the
group used to plan and carry out attacks on coalition forces.
The
United States accused the group of being involved in the attack, which
was carried out by more than 30 missiles on Friday, killing an American
civilian contractor and wounding four American soldiers and two Iraqi
security forces near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk.
Pompeo
had accused Iranian-backed factions earlier in December of being
involved in a series of attacks on bases in Iraq and warned Iran that
any attacks on Tehran or its agents would harm the Americans or their
allies "would be met with a decisive American response".
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