2023-12-26 03:52:02
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has ordered strikes once morest Iranian-backed militia groups in response to a drone attack that injured three U.S. soldiers in northern Iraq.
National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said one of the soldiers suffered critical injuries during the attack early Monday. The Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah militia and affiliated pro-Iran groups claimed responsibility for the attack.
Biden, who is spending Christmas at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland, was briefed on Monday’s attack and ordered the Pentagon to present him with response options.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the national security team quickly put together plans and presented the options during a phone call. The president ordered strikes once morest three locations used by Kataeb Hezbollah and affiliated groups.
The latest attack on US soldiers comes following several months of escalating threats and actions once morest Washington forces in the region since the October 7 Hamas incursion into southern Israel that sparked the devastating war in Gaza. .
The United States has blamed Iran, which has provided funding and training to Hamas, for the escalation of violence by its network of proxy groups in the region, including attacks by Houthis in Yemen once morest military and commercial vessels in a major commercial route in the Red Sea.
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