Iraqi Resistance Groups Vow to Continue Ops As US Military Strikes Sites Near Syria

By Staff, Agencies

Iraqi resistance groups have vowed to continue their operations against military bases, where US military forces and trainers are stationed, in retaliation for Washington's unqualified support for the relentless "Israeli" war on Gaza, after the US military carried out an airstrike against sites used by the Iraqi anti-terror forces.

Secretary General of Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada [Master of Martyrs Battalions] resistance group, Abu Ala al-Walai, said in a statement early on Wednesday that his fellow fighters have embarked on the second phase of their operations in the wake of the US strikes against their positions.

“Our strikes will continue until the unjust blockade of Gaza is lifted, and the horrific massacres of Zionists against its residents come to an end,” he added.

Jaafar al-Husseini, a spokesman for the anti-terror resistance group Kata'ib Hezbollah [Hezbollah Brigades], also said that Iraqi resistance groups “will continue to attack enemy bases until our brethren achieve victory in Gaza.”

Husseini noted that the attacks will continue until the brutal “Israeli” killing machine, which enjoys the US support, stops and the all-out blockade against Gaza is lifted. “This is a solemn promise to freedom-loving people,” he stated.

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin announced in a statement that the US military carried out airstrikes in Iraq on Tuesday, targeting facilities used by resistance groups in the country following repeated attacks on US forces.

The strikes targeted three facilities used by Katai’b Hezbollah and other resistance groups in Iraq.

Austin said in the statement that the strikes “are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against US and coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria” by Iranian-backed militia groups.

According to an unnamed Pentagon official, the strikes were carried out in two sites in western Iraq, including al-Qa’im town near the Syrian border, as well as Jurf al-Sakhar region south of Baghdad.

Two people were killed and two wounded in the bombardments in the al-Qa’im sector, according to an official at the Iraqi Interior Ministry and a former member of the Hashd al-Sha'abi forces [Popular Mobilization Forces].

In response, Iraqi resistance forces targeted a US-occupied military facility in neighboring Syria and Ain al-Asad Air Base in Iraq’s western province of Anbar.

Lebanon's Arabic-language al-Mayadeen television network, citing local sources speaking on condition of anonymity, reported that a barrage of rockets slammed into a US-run facility at Conoco gas field in Syria’s eastern province of Deir Ez-Zor.

Several explosive-laden drones also targeted the Ain al-Asad Air Base, located about 160 kilometers [100 miles] west of the capital Baghdad.

There were no immediate reports about the extent of damage at the military facilities or possible casualties.

Iraqi resistance forces have conducted dozens of strikes on the US-run military installations in both Iraq and Syria amid growing anti-US sentiments in the region over Washington’s support for the “Israeli” genocidal campaign in Gaza.

The “Israeli” entity launched hostilities in Gaza following a historic operation by the Gaza-based Hamas resistance group against the occupying entity in retaliation for its intensified atrocities against the Palestinian people. More than 100 days into the campaign, the regime has achieved no objectives despite killing at least 25,490 people in Gaza, around 70 percent of them women and children.

The United States has supplied the entity with weapons and intelligence support, and blocked UN resolutions calling for a humanitarian ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.