The US military continue to assess the result of strikes on pro-Iranian militia's facilities in Iraq, but it believes the mission was a success and the collateral damage was very low, Central Command (CENTCOM) head Kenneth McKenzie said on Friday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th March, 2020) The US military continue to assess the result of strikes on pro-Iranian militia's facilities in Iraq, but it believes the mission was a success and the collateral damage was very low, Central Command (CENTCOM) head Kenneth McKenzie said on Friday.
"We are still assessing the damage on the target sites. I have no numbers for you now," McKenzie told reporters. "But we believe the collateral damage is going to be very low. We expect there are going to be fatalities on the objective."
On Thursday night, US aircraft struck five advanced conventional weapons storage facilities in Iraq that belong to the Iranian-backed militia Kataib Hezbollah. The United States blames the militia for a rocket attack on Camp Taji in Iraq that killed two US servicemen and a Briton on March 11.
McKenzie said the US military is confident it has effectively destroyed the Kataib Hezbollah facilities and expects they will no longer be able to house advanced Iranian-supplied units that were used in the attacks on Camp Taji.
"We assess success at all sites and we are very comfortable with the level of damage that we were able to achieve," he said.
McKenzie explained the strikes were carried out by "man-flied aircraft" that safely returned to their bases and the damage assessment would take more time than usual due to inclement weather in Iraq.
The United States is aware of many more Kataib Hezbollah sites in Iraq, but refrains from attacking them out of restraint and responsibility to the authorities of the host country, McKenzie said.
