US hits Iraq militia sites and anti-ship missiles in Yemen as fight with Iranian proxies intensifies

The U.S. military struck three facilities in Iraq and two anti-ship missiles in Yemen operated by Iranian-backed militias that have continued to instigate attacks on U.S. personnel and ships in the region as the U.S. continues to try to keep the Israel-Hamas war from spilling over into a wider conflict.

Both the strikes in Iraq and Yemen targeted sites that the U.S. has said are involved in the attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria and were threatening U.S. military and commercial vessels in the Red Sea.

In a statement Tuesday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the strikes in Iraq were at the direction of President Joe Biden and targeted facilities used by the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group and other Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq.

“These precision strikes are in direct response to a series of escalatory attacks against U.S. and Coalition personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias," Austin said. Those strikes hit militia facilities in Jurf al-Sakhar, which is south of Baghdad, al-Qaim and another unnamed site in western Iraq, two U.S. officials said.

Late Tuesday, U.S. Central Command announced it had also struck two Houthi anti-ship missiles that were aimed into the Southern Red Sea and were prepared to launch.

“U.S. forces identified the missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined that they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and the U.S. Navy ships in the region,” Central Command said.

Both fronts — land attacks in Iraq and Syria, and sea attacks originating from Yemen — have seen a significant uptick in launches and counterstrikes over the last few days. In Iraq, U.S. strikes on the Kataib Hezbollah sites came hours after the U.S. said militants