The strikes were in response to a drone strike on a US base in Erbil on Monday, wounding three US soldiers. One soldier is in critical condition. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the attack was necessary and proportionate and aimed at reducing the groups’ ability to carry out new attacks.
According to the Iraqi government, however, the American attacks were carried out without coordination with the country and Iraq considers this to be hostile behavior. According to the government, this is an unacceptable attack on Iraq’s sovereignty, which damages bilateral relations. However, there was no talk of closing the American bases.
The government said the US strikes killed one Iraqi security forces fighter and wounded 18 people, including civilians. According to the Pentagon, several Kata’ib Hezbollah fighters were killed in the attack.
Turkey also carried out airstrikes in Iraq and Syria over the weekend, in retaliation against Kurdish fighters for attacking Turkish forces. On Friday and Saturday, 12 Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes in Iraq. Turkey announced on Monday that at least 26 Kurdish fighters had been killed in airstrikes in Iraq and Syria.
Turkish troops are in Iraq without the permission of the local government, Iraq has not commented on what happened.
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2023-12-26 10:17:52
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