Edited by: Du Yu
According to CCTV News on December 2, on the evening of December 26, local time, the Iraqi militia armed "Islamic Resistance Group" issued a statement saying that a number of rockets were fired at a US military base in the Shaddadi area of southern Hasakah Province in Syria on the same day.
Image source: Visual China-VCG111404048103 (unrelated to the picture and text)
According to Xinhua News Agency, the Iraqi government on December 26 condemned the violation of Iraq's sovereignty by the US military's air strikes on military targets in Iraq. As a result of the airstrike, at least one person was killed and 18 were injured.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the airstrike, ordered by U.S. President Joseph Biden, was in response to a recent series of attacks by Iranian-backed militant groups against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria, including the Dec. 25 attack on Iraq's Erbil Air Base.
Adriana Watson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. National Security Council, said that the attack on the Erbil airbase was carried out by drones, injuring three U.S. troops, one of them seriously, and that the U.S. military facilities in Iraq were specifically used by relevant armed groups to carry out drone attacks.
According to CCTV News, U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin issued a statement on the evening of the 25th local time, saying that the U.S. military carried out strikes on three facilities of the Iraqi militia on the same day in response to a series of attacks by the Iraqi militia on U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Syria.
Image source: CCTV news video screenshot
The Iraqi militia armed "Islamic Resistance Group" issued a statement earlier on the 25th, saying that it launched attacks on two bases with US troops in Syria and Iraq on the same day.
According to CCTV News, since mid-October, military bases with US troops in Iraq and Syria have been repeatedly threatened or directly attacked by armed groups. In an interview with a reporter from the main station, a former Iraqi air force officer said that the current situation is related to the recent strengthening of US military deployment in the Middle East and the emphasis on clear support for Israel.
Image source: CCTV News
Ahmed Sharifi, Iraqi security expert and former Air Force officer: In fact, the armed factions of the Iraqi militia have been "silent" for almost a year, and have not launched drone or rocket attacks. But when they found out that the United States had changed its policy, some militias began to attack in response to the United States' approach.
According to US military statistics, US military bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria have been attacked 103 times since large-scale clashes broke out between the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel in early October. Iraqi militia Islamist Resistance Group claimed to have been responsible for most of the attacks, citing U.S. support for Israel.
The United States currently has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and about 900 in Syria. The U.S. government claims that the purpose of the military presence is to provide advice and assistance to the local military to prevent the resurgence of the extremist group Islamic State.
Daily Economic News, CCTV News, Xinhua News Agency
National Business Daily