The United States said on December 29 that it had bombed five targets in Iraq and Syria controlled by an Iraqi Shi’a paramilitary group with suspected ties to Iran’s elite Quds Force.

Following deadly U.S. airstrikes on five locations in Iraq and Syria belonging to the Iranian-backed Kata’ib Hezbollah (commonly referred to as the Hezbollah Brigades, or KH), the Shia jihadist militia has threatened more attacks on U.S. troops in the region.

Protesters have stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to condemn recent U.S. air strikes that killed at least 25 members of an Iran-backed militant group, causing Iraqi security forces and compound guards to fire tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the crowd.