Skip to main content
Saturday, November 14, 2026Nov 14
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

US strikes hit Iraq militia blamed in contractor’s death

In a photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. F-22 stealth fighter jets above Syria, on Feb. 2, 2018. In Syria the prospect of Russian military forces and U.S. troops colliding has long been feared as the Cold War adversaries take opposing sides in the country’s seven-year civil war. Interviews and newly obtained documents provide the Pentagon’s first public on-the-ground accounting of one of the bloodiest battles the military has faced in Syria since deploying to fight the Islamic State group. (Colton Elliott/U.S. Air Force via The New York Times) — FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. —
In a photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. F-22 stealth fighter jets above Syria, on Feb. 2, 2018. In Syria the prospect of Russian military forces and U.S. troops colliding has long been feared as the Cold War adversaries take opposing sides in the country’s seven-year civil war. Interviews and newly obtained documents provide the Pentagon’s first public on-the-ground accounting of one of the bloodiest battles the military has faced in Syria since deploying to fight the Islamic State group. (Colton Elliott/U.S. Air Force via The New York Times) — FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. —

By ELLEN KNICKMEYER and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA / Associated Press 2 min read

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. carried out military strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting a militia blamed for an attack that killed an American contractor, a Defense Department spokesman said Sunday.

U.S. forces conducted “precision defensive strikes” against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia, spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.

The U.S. blames the militia for a rocket barrage Friday that killed a U.S. defense contractor at a military compound near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. Officials said attackers fired as many as 30 rockets in Friday’s assault.

The Defense Department gave no immediate details on how the strikes were conducted. It said the U.S. hit three of the militia’s sites in Iraq and two in Syria, including weapon depots and the militia’s command and control bases.

Iraq’s Joint Operations Command said in a statement that three U.S. airstrikes on Sunday evening Iraq time hit the headquarters of the Hezbollah Brigades at the Iraq-Syria border, killing four fighters.