Iraq Condemns the Elimination of the Commander of 'Kata'ib Hezbollah' in the Heart of Baghdad; An American Official: Iraq Was Unaware of This Attack

The Iraqi government condemned the U.S. military action in Baghdad on Wednesday that resulted in the death of a senior commander of the Kata'ib Hezbollah militia. According to CNN, the spokesperson for the Iraqi Joint Operations Command issued a statement on social media platform 'X' calling this attack a 'new aggression by the United States' and stated that this action 'will undermine all understandings between Iraq and the United States.' Tahseen al-Khafaji also reiterated that U.S. attacks on Iraq last Friday, in retaliation for the deaths of three American soldiers in Jordan, constitute a 'violation of Iraq's sovereignty.' Meanwhile, an American official stated that the Iraqi government was unaware of the U.S. military operation to eliminate the Kata'ib Hezbollah commander. This official added that the attack, which resulted in the death of Abu Bakr al-Saadi, was one of the options proposed to President Joe Biden following a drone strike in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. The U.S. Central Command also confirmed that at 9:30 PM on Wednesday, February 7, their forces killed one of the Kata'ib Hezbollah commanders in an airstrike in Baghdad. According to CENTCOM, this attack was in response to assaults on American forces, and as a result, the individual directly responsible for planning and participating in attacks on American forces in the region was killed.