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US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller speaking to reporters on January 30, 2024. Photo: handout
ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - US Department of State Spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday said that Washington will hold accountable all groups Washington finds responsible for attacks on American troops, declining to comment on an Iraqi group’s decision to suspend attacks on US troops.
Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah, supported by Iran, on Tuesday announced the suspension of all military operations against American troops "to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government.”
Miller declined to comment on the pro-Iran group’s decision.
“I just want to make it a practice not to respond to statements from terrorist organizations from the podium here,” he told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“I will say as we have said before, that we will hold accountable any organization that we find to be responsible for attacks on US personnel in the region. As it pertains to the Government of Iraq, of course, we have said that we want to see the government of Iraq do more and hold accountable, to investigate, to arrest and prosecute those who are responsible for attacks on US forces. But we will also take steps to defend those forces ourselves. And that's what you can expect us to do,” he added.
A drone strike on Sunday killed at least three US service members and injured tens others in an American military base in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian border. Washington has blamed groups supported by pro-Iran Kataib Hezbollah for the attack.
Kataib Hezbollah is part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
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.
Iraq's Kataib Hezbollah, supported by Iran, on Tuesday announced the suspension of all military operations against American troops "to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government.”
Miller declined to comment on the pro-Iran group’s decision.
“I just want to make it a practice not to respond to statements from terrorist organizations from the podium here,” he told Rudaw’s Diyar Kurda during a press briefing on Tuesday.
“I will say as we have said before, that we will hold accountable any organization that we find to be responsible for attacks on US personnel in the region. As it pertains to the Government of Iraq, of course, we have said that we want to see the government of Iraq do more and hold accountable, to investigate, to arrest and prosecute those who are responsible for attacks on US forces. But we will also take steps to defend those forces ourselves. And that's what you can expect us to do,” he added.
A drone strike on Sunday killed at least three US service members and injured tens others in an American military base in northeast Jordan, near the Syrian border. Washington has blamed groups supported by pro-Iran Kataib Hezbollah for the attack.
Kataib Hezbollah is part of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a network of shadow Iraqi militia groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
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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