Iran vows to retaliate after US military strikes kill 25 in Iraq and Syria

Protesters burn representations of a US flag during a protest against the US strikes on the Hezbollah Brigades militia, in Tahrir Square, Baghdad, Iraq. Photo / AP

An Iranian-backed militia said Monday that the death toll from US military strikes in Iraq and Syria against its fighters has risen to 25, vowing to exact revenge for the "aggression of evil American ravens."

The US attack — the largest yet targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia — and the calls for retaliation, represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the US and Iran playing out in the Middle East that could threaten US interests in the region.

The calls for revenge in Baghdad came a day after US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Washington had carried out military strikes targeting the Iranian-backed Iraqi militia it had blamed for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor in Iraq last week. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strikes send the message that the US will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives.

Fighters from the Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades militia, inspect the destruction at their headquarters in the aftermath of a US airstrike in Qaim, Iraq. Photo / AP

The US military said "precision defensive strikes" were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria. The group, which is separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilisation Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.

"Our battle with America and its mercenaries is now open to all possibilities," Kataeb Hezbollah said in a statement around midnight Sunday.

"We have no alternative today other than confrontation and there is nothing that will prevent us from responding to this crime."

The US blames the militia for a rocket barrage Friday that killed a US defense contractor at a military compound near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq, as well as for a series of other attacks on bases that house American troops in Iraq that have not been claimed by any faction.

Officials said as many as 30 rockets were fired in the Kirkuk attack.

A spokesman for Kataeb Hezbollah denied that the group was behind the rocket attacks on US bases, including the one that killed the American contractor, saying Washington is using them as a pretext to attack his group.

The headquarters of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades militia, lies in ruins in the aftermath of a US airstrike. Photo / AP

The spokesman, Mohammed Mohieh, told The Associated Press the death toll from the American airstrikes rose to 25 on Monday and that at least 51 militiamen were wounded, some of whom were in serious condition. The militia would retaliate, he said but added that the group's commanders would decide on the form of retaliation.

"These forces must leave," he said of US troops in Iraq, calling the latest attack a "crime" and a "massacre."

The US has maintained some 5000 troops in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government, to help assist in the fight against the Islamic State group.

An official with the Popular Mobilisation Forces said one of the American missiles struck a room where the fighters were taking a nap in the afternoon, killing some of them in their sleep as the ceiling collapsed.

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, left, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, right, listen as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers a statement on Iraq and Syria. Photo / AP

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters, said US forces have targeted Kataeb Hezbollah in the past but offered no evidence to support his claims. In Tehran, foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi condemned the US strikes against Kataeb Hezbollah as an "obvious case of terrorism" and accused Washington of ignoring Iraq's sovereignty.

Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah also blasted the "brutal American aggression," saying those who took the decision to carry out the attack "will soon discover how stupid this criminal decision was."

Kataeb Hezbollah is led by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, one of Iraq's most powerful men. He once battled US troops and is now the deputy head of the Popular Mobilisation Forces.

In 2009, the State Department linked him to the elite Quds Force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard, designated a foreign terrorist organization by President Donald Trump earlier this year.

The attack that killed the American contractor and U.S. counter-strikes come as months of political turmoil roil Iraq.

About 500 people have died in anti-government protests, most of them demonstrators killed by Iraqi security forces. The mass uprisings prompted the resignation last month of Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi, who remains in a caretaker capacity.

Mohammed Mohieh, the spokesman of Iraq's Iranian-backed Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, gives an interview at his office, in Baghdad. Photo / AP

In a statement, Abdul-Mahdi said Esper had called him about a half-hour before the US strikes on Sunday to tell him of US intentions to hit bases of the militia suspected of being behind Friday's rocket attack.

Abdul-Mahdi said he asked Esper to call off the US plan.

- AP