Two commanders of the Hezbollah Brigades, an influential pro-Iran Iraqi armed group, and their driver were killed Wednesday evening in Iraq in a drone strike targeting their vehicle in the capital Baghdad, an attack occurring in an explosive regional context.
The United States claimed responsibility for the attack, three American officials told Reuters.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the targeted Hezbollah Brigades commander was responsible for attacks against U.S. forces.
Washington had pledged to continue reprisals against armed pro-Iran groups, after a drone attack on January 28 that killed three American soldiers in the middle of the Jordanian desert, on the Syrian border.
Abou Baqir al-Saadi, a commander of the Hezbollah Brigades - Kataeb Hezbollah in Arabic - was killed in the strike, an official of this influential faction told AFP, on condition of anonymity, specifying that this leader was in charge of the
“military file”
in Syria.
In total, three people,
“two leaders”
of the Hezbollah Brigades and their driver, died in the attack on the vehicle, said an official at the Interior Ministry, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
“A drone fired three rockets against a 4X4 car”
in the Machtal neighborhood in eastern Baghdad, he said.
An AFP photographer in the neighborhood was able to see a large security deployment blocking all access to the site of the strike.
In the evening, the carcass of the car, which was nothing more than a pile of charred sheet metal, had been removed.
Almost a week ago, the United States already carried out strikes in Syria and Iraq against targets of Iranian elite forces and pro-Iran armed groups, in retaliation for the drone attack in Jordan .
“Imprint of the Kataeb”
For weeks, the Iraqi government has been unable to extricate itself from regional tensions, despite intense diplomatic efforts with its American and Iranian partners in particular.
More than 165 attacks since mid-October have targeted American soldiers and their partners in the international anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq and Syria, violence fueled by the war in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian Hamas.
Most of these drone strikes and rocket attacks were claimed by a nebula of pro-Iranian armed groups called the
“Islamic Resistance in Iraq”
.
The Hezbollah Brigades are considered to be the spearhead of this grouping, which highlights its solidarity with Gaza and demands the departure of American troops from Iraq.
Classified as a
“terrorist”
group by Washington and targeted by sanctions, the Hezbollah Brigades have already been targeted in recent weeks by American strikes in Iraq.
Faced with the threat of an American response after the attack in Jordan, the group announced at the end of January
“the suspension”
of their attacks against American forces, while calling on their fighters to
“practice passive defense in the event of action hostile towards them
.