Baghdad:

 Iran-aligned Iraqi armed group Kataib Hezbollah introduced the suspension of all its army operations towards U.S. troops within the area, in a choice aimed toward stopping “embarrassment” to the Iraqi authorities, the group mentioned in an announcement.

The choice follows the killing of three U.S. troops in a drone assault close to the Jordan-Syria border – an assault that the Pentagon mentioned bore the “footprints” of Kataib Hezbollah, although a last evaluation had not but been made.

Based within the aftermath of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Kataib Hezbollah is among the elite Iraqi armed factions closest to Iran.

It’s the strongest armed faction within the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of hardline Shi’ite armed teams which have claimed greater than 150 assaults on U.S. forces because the Gaza battle started in early October.

Iraq’s authorities is backed by events and militias near Iran, although indirectly by the hardline teams which were firing on U.S. forces, Western and Iraqi officers say.

Baghdad has condemned the assaults whereas additionally saying regional escalation would proceed so long as the Gaza battle went on.

U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed on Monday the U.S. would take “all mandatory actions” to defend its troops after the lethal drone assault, whilst President Joe Biden’s administration careworn it was not searching for a battle with Iran.

(Apart from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV workers and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)