By Maziar Motamedi
Iraq has increasingly become a scene for strikes between Iran-backed forces and the United States amid Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, with concerns mounting about a serious escalation. The US said Tuesday it launched attacks on Iran-aligned groups in Iraq, amid a chaotic 24 hours in the region that also saw a senior Iranian general assassinated in Syria.
Let’s take a look at the main recent developments, and talk about what they could mean for Iraq and the wider region.
What’s happened in Iraq?
In the early hours of Tuesday, the US military said it launched strikes against three sites used by Kataib Hezbollah, a major Iran-aligned armed group, and other unnamed affiliated groups in Iraq.
It came roughly half a day after Kataib Hezbollah, which is part of the umbrella group Islamic Resistance in Iraq, claimed responsibility for a major attack on a US base in Erbil in northern Iraq.
Crucially, Washington said three US soldiers were injured in the attack which used a one-way suicide drone, with one service member suffering critical injuries. The US says its presence in Iraq and Syria is mostly aimed at combating a resurgence by the ISIL (ISIS) militant group.
US bases in Iraq and Syria have come under more than 100 attacks by Iran-aligned forces since the start of the Gaza war on October 7, but the attacks had not left any US service members seriously injured before.
The US Central Command, charged with operations in the Middle East, claimed its strikes on Tuesday “destroyed the targeted facilities and likely killed a number of Kataib Hezbollah militants” without causing civilian casualties…Source:aljazeera.com/
Wednesday, May 13, 2026
