FIRING BACK

U.S. Military Strikes Target Militia Blamed for Contractor Death

The U.S. blamed the Iran-backed Iraqi group, Kataeb Hezbollah, for firing roughly 30 rockets at a military compound on Friday.

U.S. forces carried out “precision defensive strikes” against five sites along the Iraq and Syria border targeting a militia blamed for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor last week, a Defense Department spokesman said Sunday. The U.S. is holding the Iran-backed Iraqi militia, Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, responsible for firing as many as 30 rockets on Friday at a military compound near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. Spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said the U.S. strikes will weaken the militia’s ability to carry out similar attacks on Americans and their Iraqi government allies in the future. A senior member of the Popular Mobilization Forces told the Associated Press that at least 12 Hezbollah Brigades fighters had died in the strikes.