Within Syria @WithinSyriaBlog – 17:43 UTC \u00b7 Dec 29, 2019<\/a><\/span> That may be true or may be not true. Here is what happened.<\/span><\/p>\n On Friday a volley of some 30 107mm Katyusha rockets hit the K1 base which houses Iraqi and U.S. troops near Kirkuk, Iraq. One U.S. mercenary\/contractor died, two Iraqi and four U.S. soldiers were wounded. Instead of finding the real culprits – ISIS remnants, disgruntled locals, Kurds who want to regain control over Kirkuk – the U.S. decided that Kata’ib Hizbullah was the group guilty of the attack.<\/span><\/p>\n Kata’ib Hizbullah is a mostly Shia group with some relations to Iran. It is part of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) which were founded and trained by Iran to stop and defeat the Islamic State (ISIS) when it occupied nearly a third of Iraq and Syria. KH is like all PMU units now under command and control of the Iraqi Ministry of Defense.<\/span><\/p>\n To take revenge for the death of one of its mercenaries the U.S. air force attacked five camps<\/strong><\/span><\/a> where Kata’ib Hizbullah and other Iraqi forces were stationed:<\/span><\/p>\n In response to repeated Kata’ib Hizbollah (KH) attacks on Iraqi bases that host Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) coalition forces, U.S. forces have conducted precision defensive strikes against five KH facilities in Iraq and Syria that will degrade KH’s ability to conduct future attacks against OIR coalition forces.<\/span><\/p>\n The five targets include three KH locations in Iraq and two in Syria. These locations included weapon storage facilities and command and control locations that KH uses to plan and execute attacks on OIR coalition forces.<\/span><\/p>\n All of the KH positions that were hit were in the western Anbar desert, 450 kilometer away from Kirkuk. KH has bases on both sides of the Iraqi-Syrian border where it is engaged in fighting the still active ISIS. The results of the air strikes were devastating:<\/span><\/p>\n Elijah J. Magnier @ejmalrai – 6:20 UTC \u00b7 Dec 30, 2019<\/a><\/span> The al-Qaem\/al-Bukamal border station is the only open one between Iraq and Syria which is not under U.S. control. The U.S. was furious when the Iraqi prime minister Adil Abdul Mahdi allowed it to be established. It was previously attacked by Israel which had launched its assault from a U.S. air force base in east Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n T\u00d8M C\u039bT @TomtheBasedCat – 6:11 UTC \u00b7 Dec 29, 2019<\/a><\/span> The dead include Abu Ali Madiniyah, the commander of the 1st battalion of the 45th Brigade.<\/span><\/p>\n The strikes were in total disregard<\/a><\/strong><\/span> of Iraqi sovereignty and against forces under direct command of the Iraqi state:<\/span><\/p>\n
\nTrump just made the mistake of his presidency.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n32 killed and 45 wounded the count of #US violent aggression on #Iraq security forces brigades 45 and 46 last night on a military position established to counter-attack and raid #ISIS remnant at al-Qaem, the borders between Iraq and Syria.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nIt wasn’t just Hezbollah Battalions members who were affected, there are also wounded among the ranks of the Missiles Forces \/ Rocket Battalion which is considered a separate unit apart from the numbered brigades.<\/span><\/p>\n