The US attacks Iranian-backed groups in Iraq in a round of retaliation

The United States launched a new round of airstrikes in Iraq early Tuesday, likely killing militants and destroying three facilities used by Iranian allies targeting U.S. and coalition forces, U.S. military officials said.

The US strikes were in retaliation for a series of strikes, including a drone strike hours earlier by members of Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups on Iraq’s Erbil air base, US officials said. The drone strike injured three U.S. service members, one seriously, officials said.

“My prayers are with the brave Americans who were injured,” Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in a statement.

The latest attacks targeted facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah, a militia group in Iraq that is considered a proxy of Iran.

After the attack in Erbil, which took place on Christmas morning Eastern Time, President Biden directed the Defense Department to prepare response options, White House officials said, and authorized the strikes later in the day.

Mr. Biden singled out specific Kataib Hezbollah and related facilities that had been used to carry out unmanned aerial drone strikes, officials said.

In a statement, the US Central Command said previous assessments showed the US airstrikes had destroyed the targeted facilities and most likely killed a number of militants. According to the statement, there is no evidence of civilian casualties.

“These strikes are intended to hold accountable the elements directly responsible for attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and Syria and reduce their ability to continue the attacks,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla of U.S. Central Command said in the statement . “We will always protect our armed forces.”