Pentagon says it carried out strikes in Iraq and Syria against militia responsible for defense contractor's death
The Pentagon carried out airstrikes against a militia responsible for a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base near Kirkuk that left an American defense contractor dead. In a statement, the Pentagon said it had carried out strikes on the Iranian-backed Kata'ib Hizbollah group.
The strikes, two in Syria and one in Iraq, targeted weapon storage facilities and command and control locations the group uses to plan and execute attacks on coalition forces.
Kata'ib Hizbollah "has a strong linkage with Iran's Quds Force and has repeatedly received lethal aid and other support from Iran that it has used to attack OIR [Operation Inherent Resolve] coalition forces," the Pentagon said in a statement.
The rocket attack earlier this week killed an American defense contractor and injured four U.S. service members and two members of the Iraqi Security Forces, the Pentagon said.
