A senior commander from Kataib Hezbollah, an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq that the Pentagon linked to an attack that killed three US troops, died in a drone strike on a vehicle in eastern Baghdad, according to security sources and media reports. One of the sources said three people were killed and that the vehicle targeted on Wednesday night was used by Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), a state security agency composed of dozens of armed groups, many of them close to Iran. Two officials with Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq said that senior commander Abu Baqir al-Saadi was among those killed, the Associated Press news agency reported. Local outlet Sabereen News also reported al-Saadi had been killed in the blast. Al Jazeera's Ali Hashem, reporting from Baghdad, said that "several explosions" were heard across the Iraqi capital and that security sources said three people have been killed.

Joseph Votel discusses tensions in the Middle East and how the Biden administration could respond to a drone attack that killed three U.S. soldiers, on'The Story.' An Iran-backed militant group in Iraq has promised to continue attacks on U.S. troops after three American soldiers were killed by a drone strike in Jordan on Sunday. In a statement released Friday, Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the strongest Iraqi militias, announced that it plans to continue military operations against U.S. forces while allied factions have backed off their attacks after the Biden administration said there will be retaliation. Akram al-Kaabi, the group's leader, called for an end to the Israeli military operations in Gaza and withdrawal of the "American occupation of Iraq," in a statement posted on X. The announcement comes after Kataib Hezbollah, another powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, which is closely monitored by the U.S. government, said on Tuesday that it would "suspend military and security operations against the occupying forces" to avoid embarrassing the Iraqi government.

An Iran-backed militia group in Iraq says it is suspending attacks on U.S. troops after a drone attack killed three soldiers early Sunday, but the Department of Defense is casting doubt on those claims. The Iraq-based Kataeb Hezbollah said Tuesday it was suspending "military and security operations against the occupying forces to avoid any embarrassment for the Iraqi government." Gen. Ryder speaks during a press briefing at the Pentagon on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024 in Washington. The group is one of multiple Iranian proxies in the region that are believed responsible for carrying out attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq, Syria, and, most recently, Jordan over the past several months. The groups say the attacks are in retaliation for U.S. support of Israel in its ongoing offensive against Hamas militants in Gaza and the mounting death toll of Palestinian civilians.

The United States military announced on Sunday that three US soldiers were killed and at least 34 were wounded in a drone attack targeting Tower 22, a remote logistics outpost near the Jordan-Syrian border. The attack has elicited a strong reaction from Washington with President Joe Biden pledging to hold the attackers to account. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed groups in the region, claimed the attacks, saying it was in response to US support to Israel's war on Gaza, which has killed more than 26,000 people. Tower 22, which houses a small US logistics outpost, is located in Jordan's northeast close to the borders with Iraq and Syria. Public information about the outpost is limited.

Three American soldiers were killed in a drone attack in Jordan at a US military base known as Tower 22, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders. Here's what we know about the attack.

Three American troops were killed and dozens more were injured in northeast Jordan Sunday in an attack that marked a major escalation of tensions in the region. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose coalition of Iran-backed militant groups, is claiming responsibility for the deadly attack. Per an analysis from the Pro-Israeli Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq," is not a singular unit per se but rather, an umbrella term used to tie the operations of various Iran-backed proxies in Iraq and Syria. The report determined that an umbrella term obscures responsibility, making it more difficult to determine who is exactly responsible for attacks on U.S. targets. IRAN-BACKED MILITIA KILLS 3 US TROOPS JUST WEEKS AFTER BIDEN SAID TEHRAN KNOWS'NOT TO DO ANYTHING' This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows a military base known as Tower 22 in northeastern Jordan, on Oct. 12, 2023.

US and coalition troops are also stationed in the Red Sea after the Iran-backed Houthis began attacking commercial ships in the region. The Yemen-based group says it is targeting vessels in the region in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is fighting Hamas.

The Pentagon placed 2,000 U.S. troops on a 24-hour notice to deploy. U.S. forces in western Iraq were targeted in another drone attack early Tuesday morning, according to a report, marking the latest in a string of assaults on American troops in the Middle East as the Israel-Hamas war continues. Two armed drones were used against Iraq's Ain al-Asad airbase, Reuters reported, citing a security source and a government source. The base hosts international troops that assist Iraq in defeating a terror group called the Daesh, or the Islamic State. No casualties or damage were reported.

Pro-Iranian forces in Syria have said they have a "long arm" to respond to further United States air strikes on their positions, after tit-for-tat missile and drone attacks in Syria over the last 24 hours. The online statement, released late on Friday and signed by the Iranian Advisory Committee in Syria, said US air strikes had left several of their fighters dead and wounded, without specifying the fighters' nationality. "We have the capability to respond if our centres and forces in Syria are targeted," the statement said. On Friday night, two Syrian opposition activist groups reported a new wave of US air attacks on eastern Syria, which hit positions of Iran-backed militias, after rockets were fired at bases in Syria housing US troops. Several US officials, however, denied that attacks were launched late on Friday.

Nikki Haley, presidential candidate and former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., weighs in after President Biden authorized an air strike in response to an Iranian drone that killed an American. The U.S. can no longer take a reactive stance toward Iran after a new Pentagon report revised the total number of troops killed by Iran-backed groups continues to rise, experts told Fox News Digital. "Iran's regional strategy of working through proxies and carve outs is continuing unabated," Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow and Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said. "The open question is, when will the Biden administration ditch tit-for-tat strikes and work to rollback Iran's Shiite militia network in the heartland of the Middle East?" President Biden ordered a series of retaliatory precision airstrikes in Syria on Thursday, reportedly killing eight Iranians, after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps crashed a UAV into a building, killing a U.S. contractor and wounding six other Americans. U.S. intelligence assessed the UAV that crashed into a coalition base, which killed the contractor, was of Iranian origin -- so President Biden authorized the military to retaliate, the Pentagon said.