Who are the Islamic Resistance in Iraq?
Al Jazeera
And why are they exchanging fire with the US in tit-for-tat attacks around the region?
At 9:30pm on Wednesday, a United States drone strike hit a car in the al-Mashtal neighbourhood of east Baghdad. US Central Command claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on X, saying it was a “unilateral strike” in retaliation for attacks on US soldiers at a base in Jordan in late January.
Three men from Kataib Hezbollah, part of a coalition of militias-turned-state apparatus called the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), were killed in the US strike, including Wissam Mohammed, the commander in charge of Kataib Hezbollah’s operations in Syria, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Bakr al-Saadi.
On January 28, a drone had struck a Jordanian-US outpost called Tower 22 and killed three US soldiers. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed groups in the region, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out in response to US support for Israel’s war on Gaza.
But Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said the drone attack bore the “footprints” of Kataib Hezbollah, adding, “We know Iran is behind it” but not presenting evidence. Iran has denied any involvement in the assault.
In recent months, Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria operating under the banner of the IRI have launched about 170 attacks on US bases. But the attack on Tower 22 was the first to result in the deaths of US military personnel since October 18, the Pentagon said, adding that 143 Americans have been injured overall.
