The US military struck three facilities in Iraq and two anti-ship missiles in Yemen operated by Iranian-backed militias that have continued to instigate attacks on US personnel and ships in the region as the US continues to try to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spilling over into a wider conflict. Both the strikes in Iraq and Yemen targeted sites that the US has said are involved in the attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria and were threatening US military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea, the AP reports. In a statement Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes in Iraq were at the direction of President Biden and targeted facilities used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq.
"These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias," Austin said. Those strikes hit militia facilities in Jurf al-Sakhar, which is south of Baghdad, al-Qaim, and another unnamed site in western Iraq, two US officials said. Late Tuesday, US Central Command announced it had also struck two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch. Both fronts—land attacks in Iraq and Syria, and sea attacks originating from Yemen—have seen a significant uptick in launches and counterstrikes over the last few days. Much more on the back-and-forth here. (More Yemen stories.)
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