25 rockets hit US-Iraqi base injuring 5, Hezbollah militia blamed

The U.S. has blamed Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite militia group, for numerous rocket attacks against U.S. military bases in Iraq.

By Aaron Sull, World Israel News

Twenty-five rockets hit an Iraqi military base housing U.S. troops on Saturday which injured three Americans and at least two Iraqi soldiers.

“Last night, there was a Katyusha rocket attack on U.S., coalition and Iraqi forces at Camp Taji,” said Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman in a statement. “We had three U.S. service members who were injured. Two seriously who are being treated at the military hospital at the Baghdad Airport base. ”

“You cannot attack and wound American Service Members and get away with it, we will hold them to account,” Hoffman said.

The U.S. has blamed Kataib Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite militia group, for numerous rocket attacks against U.S. military bases in Iraq within the last six months, including the one last Wednesday that killed a British soldier and two American servicemen at the same Iraqi base.

The U.S. responded on Thursday by hitting five Kataib Hezbollah weapons facilities inside Iraq.

According to analysts cited by The Military Times, the U.S. counterattack is giving Iranian-backed militia groups more of an incentive to continue attacking U.S. troops stationed in Iraq.

It appears that Hezbollah is stepping into former IRGC Commander Qassem Soleimani’s shoes – at least when it comes to revenge for his killing. Following Soleimani’s assassination, Hezbollah met with Iraqi militia leaders in an effort to unite them to avenge the late commander’s death.

On Jan. 3 a U.S. airstrike killed Soleimani, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, a leader of the Iran-backed militias in Iraq, of which Kataib Hezbollah is a member. In response to the Soleimani killing, Iran launched a massive ballistic missile attack on Jan. 8, at al-Asad air base in Iraq, which resulted in traumatic brain injuries to more than 100 American troops.