US military strikes back at Iranian-backed Shia militias that killed 2 US, 1 British service members: defense official

This photo released by the government-affiliated Media Security Cell on Thursday, March 12, 2020, shows a rocket-rigged truck launcher after a rocket attack on Camp Taji, a few miles north of Baghdad, in Rashidiya, Iraq. Iraq's military on Thursday said it opened an investigation into the rocket attack that hours earlier killed three servicemen, including two Americans, at an Iraqi base housing coalition forces that has been used as a training base for a number of years. (Media Security Cell via AP)
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(FOX NEWS) — The U.S. military launched multiple strikes using Coalition warplanes targeting multiple bases used by Iranian-backed Shia militias believed to be behind the rocket attack on Camp Taji, Iraq, on Wednesday that killed two Americans and one British soldier, a senior U.S. military source told Fox News.

The launch began after 1 a.m. Baghdad time, according to a report from Fox News. 

The U.S. military strike was “proportional,” according to the U.S. military source, and hit multiple bases used by the Kata’eb Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia that fired 30 Katyusha rockets yesterday at the Taji Base, which housed American and British troops. Of the 12 troops wounded yesterday, five are in serious condition.

“The U.S. does not want to escalate the conflict with Iran,” the U.S. military source told Fox News, but wanted to send a deterrent message, according to a message telegraphed by the Defense Secretary and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs during a briefing to Pentagon press earlier Thursday. President Trump authorized the strike earlier in the day.

The U.S. has two aircraft carriers in the region: USS Harry S Truman in the Arabian Sea and USS Dwight D Eisenhower in the Red Sea. But these strikes did not involve Tomahawk cruise missiles, Fox News is told, just multiple aircraft, but it is not clear what jets were used and from which bases they launched.

The U.S. Air Force keeps dozens of fighter jets in Qatar and the UAE and B1 bombers in Saudi Arabia.

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