Kata'ib Hezbollah

The United States has confirmed conducting a targeted strike on Iraqi soil, resulting in the death of a senior commander from the Shiite group "Kataib Hezbollah." The strike, carried out in response to attacks on US military personnel in the region, occurred at 21:30 local time, according to a statement released by the US Armed Forces Central Command (CENTCOM) on social media.

The U.S. military launched retaliatory air strikes against Iranian forces and Tehran-backed militia groups in both Iraq and Syria on Friday, following a recent drone attack that killed three American soldiers at a remote base in Jordan.

U.S. forces targeted sites used by Iran-backed militants in Iraq early Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced, carrying out strikes that Iraqi sources said left two people dead.

The strikes came just days after U.S. troops in western Iraq were targeted with ballistic missiles and rockets in an attack the Pentagon blamed on militants supported by Tehran.

The US Central Command confirmed that American military forces carried out airstrikes targeting multiple facilities utilized by Kataib Hezbollah and its affiliated groups in Iraq. This action follows a series of attacks on coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.

The U.S. military carried out strikes on three sites used by Iran-backed forces in Iraq on Monday after an attack wounded three American personnel earlier in the day, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.

The air strike is a response to the missile attack on US targets in Iraq and was of limited dimensions, it is possible that there would be no escalation, Reuters reports. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced that 17 pro-Iranian fighters were killed in those attacks.

A volley of rockets targeting an airbase in Iraq's Kurdistan region killed a foreign civilian contractor and wounded five others, the U.S.-led coalition said.

The attack late on Feb. 15 was the first time in nearly two months that Western military or diplomatic installations have been targeted in Iraq, after a string of similar incidents.

A volley of rockets exploded near the US embassy in Baghdad Sunday, as tensions mount ahead of the anniversary of the US killing top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani on Iraqi soil.

AFP reporters in the capital's east heard at least five booms on Sunday night, followed by whistling sounds.

Two vehicles near the airport in Baghdad were hit in airstrikes and on that occasion, in addition to the second most powerful man in Iran, Qassem Soleimani, the top leader of the umbrella Shiite organization People's Mobilization Force (PMF) Abu-Mahdi al-Muhandis was killed.

Iran-backed militias withdrew from the compound of the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, the Iraqi army said.

The protesters also dismantled their tents outside the Green Zone in Baghdad on the edge of the Tigris River, the Iraqi Ground Forces Command said in a written statement.