U.S. strikes Iranian-backed militias in Iraq over wave of attacks on American forces

Two U.S. officials told CBS News the U.S. is striking targets in Iraq on Tuesday to retaliate for attacks Iranian-backed militias have been launching against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria — including one Saturday in Iraq involving missiles that the Pentagon said was one of the “larger-scale” attacks yet on a U.S. base. 

One of the U.S. officials said the strikes are being carried out on several facilities in Iraq used by Iranian-backed groups. 

The “larger scale attack” on U.S. forces Saturday that triggered the latest retaliatory strikes occurred against Al Asad air base in Iraq on Saturday. Multiple ballistic missiles and rockets were used in the attack, according to the Pentagon.”It was a larger-scale attack than we have seen before,” Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon press secretary, said Monday. 

Most of the projectiles were intercepted by air defenses, but a few got through and “there was some structural damage to noncritical facilities,” Singh said. 

Four service members were evaluated for traumatic brain injuries but have since returned to duty, and one Iraqi soldier was wounded, the Pentagon said in a briefing on Tuesday. 

There have been at least 151 attacks on service members in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17, according to the Defense Department. The U.S. military has responded a handful of times, initially with strikes on ammunition warehouses. Earlier this month, in Baghdad, the U.S. killed the leader of one of the groups  who the Pentagon blamed for orchestrating the continuous attacks. 

These attacks began soon after the war between Hamas and Israel broke out in October. Though the Pentagon continues to say Israel’s war is confined to Gaza and has not spread into a wider conflict, the attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Houthi attacks on commercial shipping, began around the same time and have added to tensions in the region. 

The airstrike is the Pentagon’s third set of strikes in just three days in three different countries – one against the terrorist group Al Shabab in Somalia Sunday, strikes in concert with the U.K. against the Houthis in Yemen on Monday, and now, Tuesday’s strike against Iranian-backed groups in Iraq.