"The attacked Iraqi facility threatened American forces," says US

In a retaliatory response to Kataib Hezbollah, a Shia militia group, the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. Five facilities with links to the militant group allegedly backed by Iran were targeted by the US forces. According to US officials, the group has attacked a number of American military personnel. The US has said that it will take strong actions against those who put the lives of Americans in jeopardy.

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Pompeo briefs Trump on the airstrikes

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo briefed President Trump regarding US actions in the Middle East. He was joined by US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley. Secretary Pompeo said that the attacked Iraqi facility “threatened American forces”.

“The attacks that took place against an Iraqi facility threatened American forces. This has been going on now for weeks and weeks and weeks. This wasn’t the first set of attacks against this particular Iraqi facility and others where there were American lives at risk”, he said.

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He said that the US response was “decisive” which reaffirms their commitment to save the lives of American men and women.

“What we did was take a decisive response that makes clear what President Trump has said for months and months and months, which is that we will not stand for the Islamic Republic of Iran to take actions that put American men and women in jeopardy”, added Secretary Pompeo.

US officials said that they were successful in destroying weapon storage and command locations that belonged to the militia group which it used for its operations. It was a key location that acted as a control room for the group where they used to plan attacks on coalition forces. The officials also demanded Iran act in a way that was consistent with what US had suggested.

“We will always honour that commitment to take decisive action when that takes place, and we continue to demand that the Islamic Republic of Iran act in a way that is consistent with what I laid out, back in May of 2018, for what it is that we expect Iran to do so that it can rejoin the community of nations”, said the Secretary of State.

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US Secretary of Defence Mark Esper said that F-15 Strike Eagles were used for the attacks.

“The Department of Defense took offensive actions in defence of our personnel and interests in Iraq by launching F-15 Strike Eagles against five targets associated with Kataib Hezbollah”, said Esper.

The official added that the targets included three spots in “Western Iraq and two targets in Eastern Syria that were either command and control facilities or weapons caches for Kataib Hezbollah”.

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