Ryan Browne, Barbara Starr and Zachary Cohen – March 13, 2020
(CNN)The US carried out airstrikes on Thursday against multiple Iranian-backed militia sites in Iraq, according to the US Defense Department.
The strikes come one day after the US assessed an Iranian-backed group was responsible for a rocket attack on a base where coalition forces are located, killing two American service members and one British service member.
The Defense Department on Friday identified the two US service members killed in the attack as Army Specialist Juan Miguel Mendez Covarrubias, 27, of Hanford, California and Air Force Staff Sgt. Marshal D. Roberts, 28, of Owasso, Oklahoma. The UK Ministry of Defense had earlier identified the slain UK service member as Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon.
The UK government expressed support for the US airstrikes, with the UK’s Defense Secretary Ben Wallace saying “We support the right of the United States to defend themselves, as they have done tonight.”
Fox News was first to report on the strike.
A US defense official told CNN that the strikes were carried out by manned fighter aircraft and targeted five weapons storage facilities.
In a written statement, the Defense Department stated the strike was aimed at harming the ability of Kata’ib Hezbollah, an Iranian-sponsored Shia militia group, to conduct future strikes against American troops. The weapons storage facilities included areas where weapons used to attack American and coalition troops were stored.