U.S. drone strike kills high-ranking militia leader in Iraq

On Wednesday evening, a U.S. drone struck a vehicle in Baghdad, killing at least one leader of the Iraqi-based Kataib Hezbollah militia group. In a statement posted to X, U.S. Central Command said the strike was in response to recent attacks on U.S. service members and that the militant who died was directly responsible for planning such attacks. The agency also said no civilians were harmed in the strike. Kataib Hezbollah is backed by Iran and is classified by the United States as a terrorist organization.

Why was the airstrike carried out? Pentagon officials say a January attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan that left three American service members dead and more than 40 wounded bears the “fingerprints” of Kataib Hezbollah. There have been near-daily attacks between Iran-backed armed groups and U.S. forces in Syria and Iraq since Israel’s war with the terrorist group Hamas began. The January attack prompted retaliatory U.S. airstrikes against militant groups in Syria and Iraq last week. The Department of State says those attacks destroyed or functionally damaged more than 80 targets at seven facilities.

Dig deeper: Read Marc LiVecche’s column about a U.S. response to Iran in WORLD Opinions.