Drone Strike at Baghdad Kills High-Ranking Militia Commander, Officials Say

BAGHDAD — An American drone strike hit a car at the Iraqi capital Wednesday night, killing three members of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia, including a high-ranking commander, officials said.The strike came on a main thoroughfare at the Mashtal neighborhood at eastern Baghdad. A crowd gathered as emergency response teams picked through the wreckage. Security forces closed off the heavily guarded Green Zone, where a number of diplomatic compounds are located, amid calls for protesters to storm the U.S. embassy.Two American officials familiar with the matter said that a senior Kataib Hezbollah commander was targeted in an American strike on Wednesday in Iraq. They were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.The vehicle targeted by an American drone strike at east Baghdad, Iraq, February 7, 2024. AP/Hadi MizbanTwo officials with Iran-backed militias in Iraq said that one of the three killed was the commander in charge of Kataib Hezbollah’s operations in Syria, Wissam Mohammed “Abu Bakr” al-Saadi. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to journalists.The strike came amid roiling tensions in the region and days after the American military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in retaliation for a drone strike that killed three American service members in Jordan in late January.America has blamed a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, for the attack in Jordan, and officials have said they suspect Kataib Hezbollah in particular of leading it.The Islamic Resistance in Iraq has regularly claimed strikes on bases housing American troops in Iraq and Syria against the backdrop of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, saying that they are in retaliation for Washington’s support of Israel in its war at Gaza that has killed 27,707 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory.Kataib Hezbollah had said in a statement that it was suspending attacks on American troops to avoid “embarrassing the Iraqi government” after the strike in Jordan, but others have vowed to continue fighting.On Sunday, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed a drone attack on a base housing American troops in eastern Syria killed six fighters from a Kurdish-led group allied with the United States, the Syrian Democratic Forces.The latest surge in the regional conflict came shortly after Prime Minister Netanyahu on Wednesday rejected terms proposed by Hamas for a hostage-release agreement that would lead to a permanent cease-fire, vowing to continue the war until “absolute victory.”Also on Wednesday, the press office of the Houthi rebels in Yemen reported two airstrikes on the Ras Isa area at Salif district in Hodeida province.

Drone Strike at Baghdad Kills High-Ranking Militia Commander, Officials Say

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