The U.S. military conducted a drone strike on Sunday, Dec. 3, killing five suspected militants near Kirkuk in what the U.S. side described as a “self-defense” strike.
CENTCOM said Iraqi Security Forces were notified of the strike and responded to the scene, where they subsequently “confirmed the death of the militants and the destruction of the drone.”
U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria have come under attack by rockets and one-way drones on dozens of occasions since Oct. 17. This pattern of attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria also coincides with ongoing fighting in southern Israel between the Israeli military and the Hamas terrorist group, which began on Oct. 7 when Hamas gunmen breached the Israel–Gaza barrier and proceeded to massacre Israelis.
The U.S. side has at times attributed the attacks on troops in Iraq and Syria to various Iran-linked militant factions, which may be seeking to expand the ongoing conflict in Israel into a larger regional conflict.
U.S. forces have also carried out strikes on suspected Iran-linked facilities in Syria on Oct. 26, Nov. 8, and Nov. 12.
“The United States will continue to defend U.S. and coalition personnel from attacks,” CENTCOM’s Monday press statement reads.
CENTCOM is the command responsible for U.S. military operations throughout the Middle East.
CJTF-OIR is the subordinate CENTCOM component responsible for countering ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Around 900 U.S. troops were deployed in Syria, and 2,500 were deployed in Iraq prior to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. The U.S. military has ordered thousands of additional troops to various locations throughout the region following the outbreak of the new Israel–Hamas conflict.
U.S. forces and military assets have come under attack in other parts of the region in recent weeks.
A U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone was shot down off the coast of Yemen on Nov. 8 by the Houthis, a Zaydi Shiite rebel movement that has fought on and off with the internationally recognized Yemeni government since 2004 and which the U.S. State Department has linked with Iran. The Houthis have launched several drone and missile attacks targeting Israel since Oct. 7, in solidarity with Hamas.
U.S. warships have shot down drones piloted from Houthi-controlled regions of Yemen.