US drone strike kills senior Iran-backed militia commanders in Baghdad

A drone strike carried out by the United States’ military last night killed a senior commander of an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, in the latest strike that comes as an apparent retaliation for the militias’ killing of three American soldiers in a strike on Jordan last month.

The strike, last night, hit a car in which three men were sitting while driving in the Mashtal neighbourhood in the east of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, setting the vehicle ablaze and completely destroying it and killing all passengers.

According to a statement by US Central Command (CENTCOM), the drone strike killed the man “responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region”, identifying him as Abu Baqir Al-Saadi, a senior commander in Kataib Hezbollah, the prominent Iran-backed militia operating within Iraq.

USCENTCOM Conducts Strike Killing Kata’ib Hezbollah Senior Leader

At 9:30 p.m. (Baghdad Time) February 7, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a unilateral strike in Iraq in response to the attacks on U.S. service members, killing a Kata’ib Hezbollah commander… pic.twitter.com/Zhkjimx5UG

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 7, 2024

Other reports also stated that one of the other men in the car was another senior commander by the name of Arkan Al Alyawi.

The CENTCOM statement claimed complete precision in the drone strike’s target, ruling out the potential for civilian casualties by clarifying that there were “no indications of collateral damage or civilian casualties at this time”.

Last night’s attack was the latest in a series of such strikes on facilities and assassinations of figures belonging to Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria in recent weeks, particularly as a response to the killing of the three US troops in Jordan last month and the numerous strikes – reportedly amounting to over 165 – by militias on US bases in the region since the start of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip in October.

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The recent strikes carried out by American forces have earned the ire of not only the militias but also the Iraqi government, with Baghdad warning last week that the Middle East was “on the brink of the abyss” due to the US military actions and their alleged provocations.

Following last night’s strike, Iraqi authorities issued their firmest condemnation yet to Washington and its military presence in the region, with Iraq’s military spokesperson, Yahya Rasool, stating that the US has “repeated irresponsibly all the actions that would undermine” understandings and dialogue in the country.

“It conducted a blatant assassination through an airstrike in the heart of a residential neighbourhood in the capital, Baghdad, showing no regard for civilian lives or international laws”, Rasool’s statement read. “By this act, the American forces jeopardise civil peace, violate Iraqi sovereignty and disregard the safety and lives of our citizens.”

The actions put into further consideration the presence of the US-led military coalition within Iraq, as it “consistently deviates from the reasons and objectives”, which ultimately “compels the Iraqi government, more than ever, to terminate the mission of this coalition, which has become a factor for instability and threatens to entangle Iraq in the cycle of conflict”.

American forces has repeated irresponsibly all the actions that would undermine the established understandings and hinder the initiation of bilateral dialogue. It conducted a blatant assassination through an airstrike in the heart of a residential neighborhood in the capital,…

— المكتب الإعلامي لرئيس الوزراء 🇮🇶 (@IraqiPMO) February 8, 2024