After the Houthi attack on a cargo ship in the Red Sea and then on US bases in Iraq, Syria was attacked with missiles, making the US and some countries angry, so they continuously launched retaliatory airstrikes, escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Smoke rises after an attack on the Ain al-Asad air base in Anbar province, Iraq, January 20, 2024. Photo: IRNA
The US Central Command (CENTCOM) has just conducted airstrikes on three militia bases in Iraq, in response to repeated attacks on the Ain Al Assad airbase in western Iraq.
In a statement, CENTCOM said the airstrike targeted the headquarters and weapons depots of Kataib Hezbollah and other affiliated groups in Iraq, which have close ties to Iran.
The US move comes after a series of recent attacks on the Ain Al Assad airbase, where US troops are stationed. Most recently, armed groups in Iraq used multiple drones to attack the base. The US military confirmed that there were damage and casualties in the attack, but did not provide details.
The base was also hit by more than 10 rockets last weekend. The attacks came as Iraqi militias expressed solidarity with Palestinians over Israeli attacks on the Houthis in the Gaza Strip. It also came at a “sensitive” time when Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia called for the US to withdraw from the country.
According to the Pentagon, the US and its allies in Iraq and Syria have been the targets of more than 150 attacks and Washington has so far responded in both countries. The US currently has about 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria as part of efforts to prevent the rise of IS terrorists in the two Middle Eastern countries.
The US, UK and several other countries have previously carried out retaliatory airstrikes against Hamas in Yemen for its deadly attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea. Most recently, the US, UK and Australia have imposed new sanctions on Hamas. The sanctions specifically target individuals and entities that facilitate the transfer of funds (including cryptocurrency) to Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ). Also on the sanctions list are Iraq’s private airline Fly Baghdad and its CEO.
In addition, the US also imposed sanctions on armed groups that use bases in Gaza, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen to carry out attacks against Israel and the US.
Since the Israeli army launched an offensive on Gaza on October 7, 2023 in response to a surprise raid by Hamas forces on southern Israel that morning, 1,200 people have been killed and 240 taken hostage. According to the latest statistics from the Palestinian health agency, the Israeli offensive has left nearly 25,500 dead, more than 7,000 missing and more than 63,300 injured, most of them civilians. The fighting has also forced about 2 million of Gaza's more than 2.3 million residents to flee their homes. Of these, hundreds of thousands are currently living in extremely poor conditions, lacking food, drinking water, electricity and basic medical care.
Although the United Nations and many related countries have condemned the above attacks and called for a ceasefire, all have not achieved any significant results. The increasingly escalating fighting between the two forces of Israel and Hamas has now spread to many countries in the Middle East. This is really worrying when the fighting in the Middle East has ignited.
The Houthi armed group in Yemen said that on the evening of January 24, this force fired ballistic missiles at US warships operating in the Gulf of Aden, in the Red Sea, while trying to protect two US cargo ships. As a result, one US ship was hit, forcing the two cargo ships to turn back. However, US defense officials claimed that the destroyer USS Gravely "shot down two Houthi missiles, while the remaining one fell into the water." |
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