US Carries Out Airstrikes against Militias in Iraq and Syria

The U.S. military conducted airstrikes against facilities used by the Ketaib Hezbollah militia in the Iraq-Syria border region on Sunday.

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"The U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said.

According to the Pentagon, the targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.

The airstrikes, carried out by F-15 and F-16 fighters, were in response to five militia drone attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq in recent months.

“This is not the first time the U.S. has attacked this militia… The Ketaib Hezbollah militia has established itself around this border area to resist ISIS and to support the Syrian government in its own fights against ISIS on the other side of the border. In both cases, the U.S. is hostile, and in both cases, the U.S. has tried to brand the group as pro-Iran,” Anti-War journalist Jason Ditz explained.

Indeed, June 27 military operation was President Joe Biden's second use of force in the region. He ordered airstrikes against Iranian-backed militia targets in eastern Syria this February. The airstrikes came at a delicate time between the United States and Iran.

On Thursday, a senior State Department official said that the two sides still have serious differences over how to revive the 2015 nuclear deal, after six rounds of indirect negotiations in Austria's capital Vienna since April.