US forces killed at least five Iran-backed militia members in a drone strike after the US “identified an imminent attack” was likely to be launched by militia forces in Kirkuk, Iraq, on Sunday, a US official said.
The number of attacks by Iran-backed proxy groups on US and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria has risen to 76 since October 17, a defense official told CNN.
The US has responded to these near-daily attacks in recent months by launching strikes in eastern Syria and Iraq, targeting weapons depots and storage facilities being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxy militia groups. But the retaliatory strikes have not deterred the attacks, which the Iran-backed groups have carried out with drones, rockets and at least one ballistic missile.
It wasn’t immediately clear to which specific Iran-backed group the forces killed on Sunday belonged.
Last month, the US fired on and killed an unknown number of hostile forces after they launched multiple close-range ballistic missiles were fired on US and coalition forces at Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq. The US has also launched several air strikes in Syria and Iraq since October 17, targeting facilities associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxy groups.
The US shot down three drones launched by Iran-backed Houthi militants on Sunday and responded to four separate missile attacks launched by the Houthis against three commercial vessels in the southern Red Sea.
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