A U.S. military spokesman said the bomber struck shortly after noon in front of a U.S. military base. The contractor suffered a fatal cardiac episode, which was the latest in a series of tight-knit rocket launches that raised concerns in the region. No U.S. members were reported injured.
Later on Thursday, Sen. Bob Menendez (DNJ) appeared on CNN. Said that according to his information was attacked by “surrogates of the region” of Iran.
Menendez, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, urged the president to “come to Congress” before ordering a military response.
The Biden administration has not publicly blamed Tehran for the recent attack, which took place just days after US fighter jets bombed military bases used by Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed groups in eastern Syria last weekend.
“We cannot be held accountable at this time, and we do not have a complete picture of the extent of the damage,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Wednesday.
Biden ordered a strike in Syria last week that destroyed targeted targets and killed at least one terrorist, after officials determined that Iran had facilitated three separate attacks in Iraq that put Americans at risk.
Kirby said Iraqi security forces were at the scene “almost immediately” after Wednesday’s attack. Iraqi news media reported that investigators found a rocket launcher hidden inside a civilian truck that they believe was used in the attack.
The circumstances of the latest strike on al-Assad are similar to past attacks linked to the defense, Qataib Hezbollah Officials said. While a large number of Shia-based militant groups in Iraq often take directions from Tehran, they are not always under direct Iranian control.
Kataib Hezbollah is also believed to have attacked Iraq’s K-1 airport in December 2019, killing an American contractor and wounding Iraqi and US troops. Assassination of Iranian Major General Qasim Soleimani. Hezbollah commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was also killed in the strike.
In response to Soleimani’s strike, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a missile barrage at al-Assad on January 8, 2020. More than 100 U.S. soldiers suffered traumatic brain injuries during the incident.
Kirby called for caution following the recent attack, but said U.S. Will answer.
“Let’s examine our Iraqi partners,” he said. “If an answer is guaranteed, I think we have made it clear that we will not stay away from it.”
Nick Nidzviadek contributed to this report.
