Two commanders of the Hezbollah Brigades, an influential pro-Iran Iraqi armed group, and their driver were killed on Wednesday February 7 in Iraq in a drone strike targeting their vehicle in the capital Baghdad, an attack occurring in an explosive regional context.
The drone strike comes as Washington pledged to continue retaliation against pro-Iran armed groups, after a drone attack on January 28 killed three American soldiers in the middle of the Jordanian desert, on the Syrian border.
USCENTCOM Conducts Strike Killing Kata'ib Hezbollah Senior Leader
At 9:30 pm February 7, US Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on US service members, killing a Kata'ib Hezbollah commander responsible for … pic.twitter.com/JW7Zy8QV7E
— US Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 7, 2024
Abou Baqir al-Saadi, a commander of the Hezbollah Brigades – Kataeb Hezbollah in Arabic – was killed in the strike, an official of this influential faction told AFP, on condition of anonymity, specifying that this leader was in charge of the "military file" in Syria.
In total, three people, "two leaders" of the Hezbollah Brigades and their driver, died in the attack on the vehicle, an official at the Interior Ministry told AFP, also speaking anonymously. .
Also read Who are the Hezbollah Brigades accused of having killed American soldiers in Jordan?
“A drone fired three rockets against a 4x4 car” in the Machtal district in eastern Baghdad, this official told AFP.
For its part, the American army claims to have carried out the strike in retaliation for attacks against its forces in the region and indicates having killed a commander of the Hezbollah Brigades.
An AFP photographer in the neighborhood was able to see a large security deployment blocking all access to the site of the strike. In the evening, the carcass of the car, which was nothing more than a pile of charred sheet metal, had been removed.
Almost a week ago, the United States already carried out strikes in Syria and Iraq against targets of Iranian elite forces and pro-Iran armed groups, in retaliation for the drone attack in Jordan .
“Footprint of the Brigades”
For weeks, the Iraqi government has been unable to extricate itself from regional tensions, despite intense diplomatic efforts with its American and Iranian partners in particular.
More than 165 attacks since mid-October have targeted American soldiers and their partners in the international anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq and Syria, violence fueled by the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian Hamas.
Most of these drone strikes and rocket attacks were claimed by a nebula of pro-Iranian armed groups called the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq”.
The Hezbollah Brigades are considered to be the spearhead of this grouping, which highlights its solidarity with Gaza and demands the departure of American troops from Iraq.
Classified as a “terrorist” group by Washington and targeted by sanctions, the Hezbollah Brigades have already been targeted in recent weeks by American strikes in Iraq.
Faced with the threat of an American response after the attack in Jordan, the group announced at the end of January the "suspension" of its attacks against American forces, while calling on its fighters to "practice passive defense in the event of action hostile towards them.
Officials in Washington have already assured that the drone attack in Jordan bore "the imprint of the Hezbollah Brigades".
The latest American bombings carried out almost a week ago in Iraq, in areas on the border with Syria, killed 16 fighters from Hachd al-Chaabi, a coalition of former pro-Iran paramilitaries integrated into the security apparatus of the Iraqi state and which brings together the pro-Iran armed factions.
With AFP
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