World
Samuel Werberg, an Arabic language spokesperson of the US State Department, speaking to Rudaw on February 2, 2024. Photo: Rudaw
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The United States is not at war with any group in the Middle East, but is protecting its troops in the region, a State Department spokesperson said on Friday.
Washington “is not at war with any group in the Middle East, but we are taking all necessary measures to protect ourselves and the American forces,” Samuel Werberg, an Arabic language spokesperson for the US State Department, told Rudaw.
He noted that US troops are present in the Middle East at the invitation of local governments.
The US is preparing to respond to a drone strike last Sunday that killed at least three service members at an American military base in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian border. Washington has blamed the pro-Iran Islamic Resistance in Iraq for the attack.
There have been over 165 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since mid-October, according to the Pentagon.
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.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks, linking them to US support for Israel in its war in Gaza.
After repeated warnings from the US that it would retaliate, Kataib Hezbollah, a pro-Iran militia, on Tuesday announced the suspension of attacks on American troops.
Two other militias, however, have said they would continue the attacks - Harakat al-Nujaba, a pro-Iran Iraqi militia group, and the True Promise Brigades, part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
The True Promise brigades announced on Wednesday the attacks would continue "until the Zionist-American-British aggression against our Palestinian people stops."
Washington “is not at war with any group in the Middle East, but we are taking all necessary measures to protect ourselves and the American forces,” Samuel Werberg, an Arabic language spokesperson for the US State Department, told Rudaw.
He noted that US troops are present in the Middle East at the invitation of local governments.
The US is preparing to respond to a drone strike last Sunday that killed at least three service members at an American military base in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian border. Washington has blamed the pro-Iran Islamic Resistance in Iraq for the attack.
There have been over 165 attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since mid-October, according to the Pentagon.
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.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has claimed responsibility for most of the recent attacks, linking them to US support for Israel in its war in Gaza.
After repeated warnings from the US that it would retaliate, Kataib Hezbollah, a pro-Iran militia, on Tuesday announced the suspension of attacks on American troops.
Two other militias, however, have said they would continue the attacks - Harakat al-Nujaba, a pro-Iran Iraqi militia group, and the True Promise Brigades, part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq.
The True Promise brigades announced on Wednesday the attacks would continue "until the Zionist-American-British aggression against our Palestinian people stops."
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