US Retaliates Against Iranian-Backed Militia Groups After Drone Attack In Iraq

(MENAFN- Live Mint) "President Joe Biden has ordered retaliatory strikes against Iranian-backed militia groups after three US service members were injured in a drone attack in Northern Iraq, according to a report published by The Associated Press.
“One of the US troops suffered critical injuries in the attack that occurred earlier Monday,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson.
The Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups claimed credit for the attack. Biden was briefed on the attack on Monday and ordered the Pentagon to prepare response options.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and national security team quickly drew up plans and presented him with options in a call and Biden directed strikes against three locations utilized by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups, AP reported.
The latest attack on the United States follows months of escalating threats and actions against American forces in the region since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the devasting war in Gaza. The Iranian government and its allied militant forces in Yemen have openly criticized Israel's military operations in Gaza Gaza Strip has endured over 11 weeks of Israeli air and ground attacks that have killed more than 20,400 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run coastal territory US has blamed Iran for the rising violence by its network of proxy groups across the region, including attacks by Yemen's Houthis against commercial and military vessels through a critical shipping choke point in the Red Sea. The US Department of Defense said that a chemical tanker in the Indian Ocean was hit by a drone launched from Iran has repeatedly dismissed US and Israeli accusations that Tehran was involved in attacks by the Houthis, saying the group was acting on its own.
(With inputs from agencies)

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