Kataib Hezbollah, an Iraqi Shiite terrorist group with ties to Iran, has denied reports that it has resumed attacks on U.S. forces deployed in the region.
The denial comes a day after two U.S. bases in northeastern Syria were reportedly targeted by missiles and drones fired from launchers in neighboring Iraq.
Not to be confused with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Kataib Hezbollah is regarded by Washington as a terrorist group despite its links with the Iraqi government.
On April 22, Kataib Hezbollah denied reports circulating online that it had resumed attacks—after a three-month hiatus—on U.S. forces based in the region.
In a social media post, the group called the reports “fabricated news.”
A day earlier, a U.S. official told Reuters that several rockets had been fired—from Iraqi territory—at U.S. forces stationed in northeastern Syria.
Iran’s IRNA press agency, citing regional news outlets, claimed that two U.S. bases in Syria’s northeastern Hasaka province had come under fire by missiles and drones.
The news agency did not say whether the reported attacks had caused any damage or casualties.
According to the unnamed U.S. official cited by Reuters, more than five rockets were fired at a U.S. base in Syria’s northeastern Hasaka province.
No U.S. personnel were injured in the attack, the official said, describing the incident as a “failed rocket attack.”
U.S.-led coalition aircraft had responded by striking a launcher in next-door Iraq from which the missiles were allegedly fired, the official said.
According to Iraqi security sources cited by Russia’s Sputnik news agency, several explosions were heard shortly afterward in Iraq’s central Babil Province.
The Epoch Times could not independently verify the reports.
An estimated 900 U.S. troops are stationed in eastern and northeastern Syria—a presence viewed by Damascus as an “illegal occupation.”
Meanwhile, roughly 2,500 U.S. troops remain deployed in Iraq under an increasingly tenuous agreement with Baghdad.
The deployments are part of a U.S.-led coalition ostensibly tasked with fighting the ISIS terrorist group, which overran vast swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
US Forces Under Fire
Late last year, U.S. bases in Iraq and Syria came under repeated drone and missile attacks by armed Shiite factions operating in Iraq.The attacks came in response to Israel’s ongoing offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed thousands of Palestinians—mostly civilians—since October 2023.
The United States responded to the attacks on its bases by striking multiple targets inside Iraq, killing several Kataib Hezbollah commanders.
Reeling from repeated U.S. bombardments, Iraq’s armed Shiite factions—including Kataib Hezbollah—halted attacks on U.S. forces deployed in the region.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials have stepped up demands to terminate the U.S.-led coalition’s presence in Iraq, which they say is no longer necessary.
In January, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani stressed his “determination” to end the coalition’s mandate “now that the justification for its existence has ended.”
In mid-February, Iraqi and U.S. officials resumed talks ostensibly aimed at setting a timeline for the withdrawal of coalition personnel from Iraq.
Since then, however, the talks have largely failed to make any headway.
The latest attack on U.S. forces in Syria occurred one day after Mr. Al-Sudani returned from a week-long visit to Washington, where he met with U.S. President Joe Biden.
Mounting Regional Tensions
The meeting between President Biden and Mr. Al-Sudani was largely overshadowed by escalating tensions between longstanding regional foes Israel and Iran.On April 1, Israeli warplanes struck the Iranian Embassy in Syria, killing several high-ranking Iranian military officials and at least six Syrian nationals.
Iran responded on April 13 by firing more than 300 missiles and drones into Israel, most of which were intercepted by the latter’s Iron Dome air defense system.
Late last week, Israel staged a limited drone attack on targets near the Iranian city of Isfahan that reportedly failed to cause any damage or casualties.
At the time, Mr. Al-Sudani, speaking from the White House, called for restraint, urging all parties involved to “prevent the conflict zone from expanding further.”
Despite the prime minister’s appeal, an Iraqi military facility south of Baghdad was rocked by a large explosion on April 20 that reportedly killed a member of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF).
Loosely affiliated with the Baghdad government, the PMF mainly comprises armed Shiite factions that operate as an “independent formation” within the Iraqi armed forces.
The U.S. military, for its part, quickly distanced itself from the blast, the cause of which remains unknown.
“We are aware of reports claiming that the United States conducted airstrikes in Iraq today,” U.S. Central Command wrote in a social media post on April 20. “Those reports are not true.”
On April 22, a U.S. official cited by Reuters said the U.S.-run Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq’s Anbar Province had been targeted by an attack drone.
The official did not say whether the alleged attack had caused any damage or casualties.
A U.S. Defense Department spokesperson told The Epoch Times that on April 21, “a coalition fighter destroyed a launcher in self-defense after reports of a failed rocket attack near the Coalition base at Rumalyn, [in northeastern] Syria.”
“No U.S. personnel were injured,” the spokesperson said.
