The top U.S. general overseeing coalition forces in Iraq pointed the finger at Iran for responsibility over the death of two American servicemen and one British coalition partner following a rocket attack at Camp Taji on Wednesday.
“Iran needs to understand that we hold them ultimately responsible,” U.S. Central Command Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in open testimony Thursday.
McKenzie said the Jan. 3 strike against Iranian Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani did not deter Iran from executing proxy attacks against U.S. forces in the region.
“I believe that we are deterring them from state-on-state attacks,” he said, but the CENTCOM commander admitted that the region would likely continue to see “low-level proxy attacks.”
Several Russian-made Katyusha rockets hit a base where more than 500 U.S. troops are stationed. The rockets are a sign that Iranian-backed Shia militia group Kata’ib Hezbollah is responsible, though an investigation is ongoing, McKenzie said.
Army Col. Myles Caggins, spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, tweeted last night that 18 107mm Katyusha rockets struck the base.
“The Iraqi Security Forces found a rocket-rigged truck, a few miles from Camp Taji,” the statement said.
The attack came on what would have been Soleimani’s 63rd birthday.
Kata’ib Hezbollah was behind the December rocket attack on a military base in Kirkuk that killed a U.S. contractor.
