Commander Of Iran-Backed Kaitab Hezbollah Killed In US Strike In Iraq

United States Department of Defence has said that it has targeted and killed commander of Kaitab Hezbollah, the Iran-backed group in Iraq, a group which has been blamed for killing US troops.

The US military announced that a commander from Kaitab Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group in Iraq, was killed on Wednesday in a US strike. The group has been blamed for attacking US troops by the US Department Of Defence. 

The military in a statement said that the US forces carried out a unilateral strike in Iraq, targeting and eliminating a Kataib Hezbollah commander. 

"(US) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on U.S. service members, killing a Kataib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region," a statement from the military said without naming the commander, as per a Reuters report.

The statement also emphasised that there were no indications of civilian casualties resulting from the strike.

According to two security sources speaking on condition of anonymity, the commander killed in the strike was Abu Baqir al-Saadi. He was targeted in a drone strike on a vehicle in eastern Baghdad. One of the sources reported that three individuals were killed in the strike. Additionally, the vehicle targeted was reportedly utilised by Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), a state security agency comprising numerous armed groups, many of which have close ties to Iran.

Kataib Hezbollah fighters and commanders are indeed affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). In January, three US troops were killed in a drone attack near the Jordan-Syria border, an incident that the Department of Defence attributed to Kataib Hezbollah's involvement. Following this attack, the group declared a suspension of military operations against US troops in the region.

According to Reuters, the ongoing tensions have led to near-daily exchanges of attacks between hardline Iran-backed armed groups and US forces stationed in Iraq and Syria. These confrontations have escalated since the Gaza war commenced in October.

Last weekend, the US conducted strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, signalling what it described as the start of its response to the deaths of the three U.S. soldiers. Earlier in January, a US drone strike targeted a senior militia commander in central Baghdad, a move Washington stated was a response to drone and rocket assaults on its forces.

In response to heightened tensions, Iraqi special forces were placed on high alert in Baghdad on Wednesday. Additional units were deployed within the Green Zone, which houses international diplomatic missions, including the US embassy, according to a security source, reported Reuters.