Aggression against American forces will not go unanswered. This is a far cry from the days when Iran captured a patrol boat of American sailors and humiliated them before the world, and the Obama administration thanked Iran for treating them well.
“US conducts airstrikes against multiple Iranian-backed militia sites in Iraq,” by Ryan Browne, Barbara Starr and Zachary Cohen, CNN, March 13, 2020:
(CNN)The US carried out airstrikes on Thursday against multiple Iranian-backed militia sites in Iraq, according to the US Defense Department.
The strikes come one day after the US assessed an Iranian-backed group was responsible for a rocket attack on a base where coalition forces are located, killing two American service members and one British service member.
The Defense Department on Friday identified the two US service members killed in the attack as Army Specialist Juan Miguel Mendez Covarrubias, 27, of Hanford, California and Air Force Staff Sgt. Marshal D. Roberts, 28, of Owasso, Oklahoma. The UK Ministry of Defense had earlier identified the slain UK service member as Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon.
The UK government expressed support for the US airstrikes, with the UK’s Defense Secretary Ben Wallace saying “We support the right of the United States to defend themselves, as they have done tonight.”…
In a written statement, the Defense Department stated the strike was aimed at harming the ability of Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-sponsored Shia militia group, to conduct future strikes against American troops. The weapons storage facilities included areas where weapons used to attack American and coalition troops were stored.
“These strikes were defensive, proportional, and in direct response to the threat posed by Iranian-backed Shia militia groups (SMG) who continue to attack bases hosting OIR coalition forces,” the department statement read.
The statement added, “These terror groups must cease their attacks on U.S. and coalition forces or face consequences at a time and place of our choosing. The US and the coalition remain committed to the lasting defeat of ISIS, and the long-term security, stability, and sovereignty of Iraq.”
Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, the commander of US Central Command which oversees US forces in the Middle East, told reporters Friday that the strikes had targeted storage sites housing “advanced conventional weapons” that he said had been provided to the militias by Iran, such as the 107mm rockets which were used in the deadly attack on Wednesday.
“We are confident that we have effectively destroyed these facilities and expect they will not longer be able to house the type of advanced Iranian-supplied weapons that were used in the Khatib Hezbollah attacks on the Iraqi base at Camp Taji,” McKenzie said.
US Central Command also released images purporting to be the weapons storage facility targets hit in the airstrikes that took place near Baghdad.
The Iraqi government condemned the airstrikes in a statement Friday, saying that several Iraqi security force personnel were killed or wounded in the strikes….