World
US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller speaking to reporters in Washington on February 1, 2024. Photo: State Dept.
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller on Thursday said that Washington has informed the Iraqi government that it expects Baghdad to do more to prevent attacks by pro-Iran militia groups against US troops in Iraq.
"We have made clear to the government of Iraq for months, going well before this attack over the weekend, that we want to see the Government of Iraq do more to police attacks on our forces, to hold accountable those responsible for attacks on our forces and we would not hesitate to take action to defend ourselves,” Miller told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing on Thursday.
“And that continues to be our message to the Government of Iraq," he added.
A drone strike on Sunday killed at least three US service members in an American military base in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian border. Washington previously blamed groups supported by pro-Iran Kataib Hezbollah for the attack.
“We believe that the attack in Jordan was planned, resourced and facilitated by an umbrella group called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which contains multiple groups including Kataib Hezbollah,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday.
There have been at least 165 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since mid-October, according to the Pentagon. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed most of them, linking it to the US support for Israel in its war in Gaza.
Around 2,500 American troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria are leading an international coalition through Operation Inherent Resolve that has assisted Kurdish, Iraqi, and local Syrian forces in the fight against the Islamic State (ISIS), which once held swathes of land in Iraq and Syria but was declared territorially defeated in 2019.
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