World
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh speaking to reporters on February 6, 2024. Photo: screengrab/Pentagon
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh on Tuesday said that the US will hold pro-Iran groups responsible for their attacks on American troops in the region.
"We know that groups like [Kataib Hezbollah] KH... are behind some of these attacks on our forces. I am not going to get into more details on each specific one but again we know that groups like this, particularly when it came to the attack on Jordan, had the fingerprints of KH behind them and we are going to hold those responsible," she told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing.
Washington on Friday night launched a major retaliation campaign against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and Iran-aligned militias in Iraq and Syria, striking more than 85 targets and killing at least 16 Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) fighters and injuring another 36 in Iraq’s western Anbar province, near the Syrian border.
The airstrikes were carried out in retaliation for more than 165 rocket and drone attacks on American troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan by Iran-aligned militia groups condemning Washington’s support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip since mid-October. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with the IRGC, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks. The most recent drone strike, which resulted in three American soldiers being killed, took place at a military base in Jordan late last month.
Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah, supported by Iran, late last month announced the suspension of all military operations against American troops "to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government.”
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.
Kirby told reporters at the time that Washington had “informed” Baghdad "prior" to carrying out the attacks, an assertion denied by Iraqi government spokesperson Basim al-Awadi.
US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told Rudaw during a press briefing on Monday that the US “informed the Iraqis immediately after the strikes occurred.”
"I deeply apologize,” Kirby told reporters on Tuesday, “adding that his remark was based on “information we had that was provided to me.”
''I hope that you'll understand there was no ill intent behind it. No, no deliberate intent to deceive or to be wrong. I take those responsibilities very very seriously and I deeply regret the mistake that I made,” he added.
"We know that groups like [Kataib Hezbollah] KH... are behind some of these attacks on our forces. I am not going to get into more details on each specific one but again we know that groups like this, particularly when it came to the attack on Jordan, had the fingerprints of KH behind them and we are going to hold those responsible," she told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing.
Washington on Friday night launched a major retaliation campaign against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force (IRGC-QF) and Iran-aligned militias in Iraq and Syria, striking more than 85 targets and killing at least 16 Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) fighters and injuring another 36 in Iraq’s western Anbar province, near the Syrian border.
The airstrikes were carried out in retaliation for more than 165 rocket and drone attacks on American troops in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan by Iran-aligned militia groups condemning Washington’s support for Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip since mid-October. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with the IRGC, has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks. The most recent drone strike, which resulted in three American soldiers being killed, took place at a military base in Jordan late last month.
Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah, supported by Iran, late last month announced the suspension of all military operations against American troops "to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government.”
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.
Kirby told reporters at the time that Washington had “informed” Baghdad "prior" to carrying out the attacks, an assertion denied by Iraqi government spokesperson Basim al-Awadi.
US State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel told Rudaw during a press briefing on Monday that the US “informed the Iraqis immediately after the strikes occurred.”
"I deeply apologize,” Kirby told reporters on Tuesday, “adding that his remark was based on “information we had that was provided to me.”
''I hope that you'll understand there was no ill intent behind it. No, no deliberate intent to deceive or to be wrong. I take those responsibilities very very seriously and I deeply regret the mistake that I made,” he added.
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