US targets another Iraqi militia commander

A US drone strike killed a senior Iraqi militia commander in Baghdad today, in retaliation for attacks on US forces in that country.

The strike targeted an unnamed commander of the Kataib Hezbollah group, whom the Pentagon accused of "directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region." The US on 4 January carried out a drone strike that killed leaders of another Iran-backed Iraqi militia group, Harakat al-Nujaba.

Today's strike against the Kataib Hezbollah commander follows air strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria last week, which the Pentagon said were in retaliation to the 28 January deadly attack on a US base in Jordan.

Kataib Hezbollah after the 28 January attack announced a pause in strikes against the US forces in the region, but the Pentagon dismissed the statement as inadequate as other Iran-linked groups continued to target US service members and facilities.

Iraq has witnessed a rise in tensions between US troops deployed in the country and Iran-backed militias since the outbreak of violence between Israel and Gaza-based Hamas in October. The US military has come under attack more than 160 times in Iraq and Syria since the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza broke out.

The latest US push to pause Israeli military operations in Gaza and release hostages held by the Hamas militant group in Gaza is not showing much progress. Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, following talks with US secretary of state Tony Blinken in Tel Aviv today, blasted Hamas' response as "delusional" and vowed to expand Israel's military operations in southern Gaza.

Blinken told reporters at the conclusion of his visit to Israel that the US still saw a possibility to negotiate a Hamas-Israel agreement despite Netanyahu's comments.

The US is holding Tehran responsible for the attacks on US forces in the region, citing Iran's provision of weapons to the militants accused of carrying them out. But President Joe Biden and his senior military and diplomatic advisers have indicated that the US response will aim to avoid a wider conflict in the Middle East. It remains to be seen whether Tehran will view continued US retaliatory strikes against Iran-linked groups as escalatory.

The US military is in Iraq as part of a coalition of foreign forces formed to defeat the Islamist group Isis. Iraq's prime minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani in December said his government is working to end the presence of foreign troops.

The Biden administration in response said last month that it would hold consultations with the Iraqi government on the future of US military forces in the country. The Pentagon does not want to commit to a specific withdrawal date or an interim target for a specific number of troops. A possible phase down of US military presence will take three factors into account: the threat from Isis, Iraq's overall security situation, and the capability of Iraq's own military to address domestic security risks, the Pentagon says.

By Haik Gugarats