30 Dec
The US Department of Defense says military strikes were carried out against five facilities of a militia group that is backed by Iran in Iraq and Syria.
Pentagon spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement on Sunday that the locations included weapon-storage facilities and command and control locations.
He said the strikes were in response to attacks with more than 30 rockets by Kataib Hezbollah on Friday on a northern Iraqi base where US soldiers are stationed.
He said the rocket attacks near Kirkuk killed one US civilian and wounded four US service members.
Hoffman noted that Kataib Hezbollah has a strong link to Iranian forces and has repeatedly received support from Tehran that it has used to attack the coalition forces.
He added that "Iran and their proxy forces must cease their attacks on US and coalition forces" to prevent additional defensive actions by US forces.
Analysts say the strikes may aggravate the already strained relationship between the US and Iran.
NHK
