Houthi Drone Expert Killed in U.S. Strike in Iraq; Iranian Proxies Launch More Attacks

WASHINGTON DC, United States (Kurdistan 24) – A Houthi expert in drones was among those killed in a U.S. strike last week on an Iraqi base south of Baghdad, as The Washington Post reported late on Monday.

The death of a Yemeni drone specialist, identified as Hussein Abdullah al-Shabal, at a Kata’ib Hizbollah base, illustrates “the extensive cooperation among militant groups supported by Tehran,” the Post said.

The revelation came on the same day that pro-Iranian militias launched two attacks at international targets. 

One assault occurred in western Iraq, at Ain al-Asad Airbase, injuring at least 20 U.S. military personnel stationed there. 

The second attack involved the Houthis in Yemen. They have been attacking international shipping, claiming that they are supporting Hamas in Gaza. But that is best understood as a pretext to justify their participation in an Iranian-sponsored campaign to destabilize the region. 

The latest Houthi attack involved a missile strike on a Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned container ship—the Groton. It was traveling from the UAE to Saudi Arabia’s western port of Jeddah. The ship had nothing at all to do with Israel!

Death of Houthi Explosives Expert

The U.S. military did not know of the presence of Hussein al-Shabal, when it struck the base south of Baghdad on July 30, after it saw what appeared to be preparations for an attack on U.S. forces.

According to Iraqi sources, four militia members were killed in that attack. Initially, it prompted strong language from Iraq's military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Yahya Rasul, who described it as a strike on a headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF.)

Read More: Iraqi Armed Forces Spox blames international coalition for attack on PMF HQ

Indeed, the harsh language in which Rasul first described that attack was repeated by the Post. But the U.S. paper failed to note Rasul’s far more conciliatory language in a statement that he issued early on Monday. 

As Rasul explained then, talks between Washington and Baghdad on a transition of the U.S.military presence in Iraq were going well.

Read More: Yahya Rasul: Negotiations progressing well on International Coalition mission transfer

The change in Rasul’s tone likely reflected a discussion that Secretary of State Antony Blinken held with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Sunday.

The focus of their conversation was on de-escalating regional tensions, amid the confrontation between Israel and Iran. But it also included Blinken’s affirmation of Washington’s. “commitment to the Higher Military Commission process to determine how and when the D-ISIS {Defeat-ISIS] Coalition’s military mission in Iraq will transition,” according to a U.S. readout of their discussion. 

Read More: U.S. Secretary of State Speaks with Iraqi PM, as Iranian-Israeli Tensions Escalate

Almost certainly, that issue is far more important to Baghdad than protecting militias that answer to Tehran, rather than to the Iraqi government.

In addition, Baghdad may have been disturbed to learn that a Houthi drone expert was working with Kata’ib Hizbollah. 

U.S. and Iraqi officials both confirmed Shabal’s death to the Post. An Iraqi military official told the Post that while Kata’ib Hizbollah had certain responsibilities, they “did not involve working with the Houthi commander,” and the Iraqi government may well have been ignorant of his presence in the country.

The U.S. designated Kata’ib Hiizbollah as a terrorist organization already in 2009. It had been established by Iran two years before, and was targeting U.S. forces, then still engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

When ISIS emerged in 2014, following the premature withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq by Barack Obama, the PMF were formed to fight ISIS, and Kata’ib Hizbollah became part of the PMF.

Yet Another Attack on Ain al-Asad Airbase

Late on Monday, rockets were fired at Ain al-Asad Airbase, injuring at least 20 U.S. military personnel, as France 24 reported early on Tuesday.

U.S. forces were regularly targeted by pro-Iranian militias until a January 28, 2024, attack on a U.S. base in Jordan, just across the border from Iraq. The attack killed three U.S. troops and wounded another 30, and it galvanized the Biden administration into action. 

Finally, the U.S. responded to the militia attacks. On Feb. 2, in just 30 minutes, U.S. aircraft bombed 85 targets associated with the pro-Iranian militias at seven locations in  Iraq and Syria.

Read More: U.S. Says Attacks ‘Must Stop Right Now,’ as it Strikes IRGC, Militias in Iraq, Syria

That massive strike achieved a significant element of deterrence. 

But that appears to be ending. Ain al-Asad Airbase was attacked on July 26. It was the second attack on the airbase in ten days. But there were no injuries or damage, and the Biden administration reverted to its earlier posture of ignoring such aggressions. 

The result was predictable, vindicating the judgment of Behnam Ben Taleblu, a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, who earlier warned Kurdistan 24 that the danger existed that the deterrent effect of the massive U.S. strike were wearing off.

Ben Taleblu contrasted a policy of de-escalation, which the Biden administration stresses, and one of deterrence. The two are not compatible, he explained. 

“The moves employed to achieve de-escalation actually hurt the deterrence mission,” Ben Taleblu said.

Read More: Rockets Target Bases in Iraq, Syria, Hosting US Troops

“The more the militias and their patron perceive Washington wants to back away, the greater their incentive to double down and resume attacks,” he said, as he expressed concern that absent another serious U.S. response, we may be “about to return to the era of more militia attacks.”

Houthi Attacks

Something similar appears to be happening with the Houthis. On July 20, following a lethal Houthi attack on Tel Aviv, Israeli planes launched a large-scale assault on the Yemeni port of Hodeidah.

Like the massive Feb. 2 U.S. strike on the pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria, that attack brought a period of quiescence. 

But deterrence does not last forever. If it is not renewed, if Iran and its proxies come to believe that the chances of a large-scale response to their assaults are minimal, they will resume their aggressions.

That seems to be what is happening with the Houthis as well. The Houthis have not attacked Israel again, but they have resumed their assaults on international shipping.

On Saturday, the Houthis launched a missile attack on a Liberian-flagged, Greek-owned container ship, traveling through the Gulf of Aden, as noted above. The Associated Press described the attack as “the first assault’ by the Houthis “since Israeli airstrikes targeted them.”

In turn, CENTCOM announced on Monday that over the past 24 hours, it had destroyed three Houthi drones over the Gulf of Aden and another drone in Yemen itself. Separately, CENTCOM destroyed three Houthi weapons systems in the Red Sea.

Such limited strikes, however, have had little deterrent effect in the past, and it seems unlikely that has changed.