O presidente Joe Biden ordenou retaliatory attacks against militia groups supported by Iran, after three US soldiers were injured in a drone attack in northern Iraq.
National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said one of the US soldiers suffered serious injuries in the attack that took place on Monday. The Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia and affiliated groups, under the guise of Iran-backed militants, claimed credit for the attack.
Biden, who spent Christmas at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, was briefed on the attack on Monday and ordered the Pentagon to prepare response options.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the national security team rapidly drew up plans and presented him with options in a call and Biden directed attacks on three locations used by Kataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups.
The latest attack on US troops follows months of increasing threats and actions against American forces in the region since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which triggered the devastating war in Gaza. The US blamed Iran, which funded and trained Hamas, for the escalating violence perpetrated by its network of proxy groups across the region, including attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on commercial and military ships through a critical maritime chokepoint in the Red Sea.