{"id":16112,"date":"2020-03-12T18:05:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-12T18:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/03\/12\/all-options-on-the-table-following-deadly-rocket-attack-in-iraq-allegedly-carried-out-by-iran-backed-group\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:51:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:51:21","slug":"all-options-on-the-table-following-deadly-rocket-attack-in-iraq-allegedly-carried-out-by-iran-backed-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/03\/12\/all-options-on-the-table-following-deadly-rocket-attack-in-iraq-allegedly-carried-out-by-iran-backed-group\/","title":{"rendered":"All options on the table following deadly rocket attack in Iraq \u2018most likely\u2019 carried out by Iran-backed group"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters at the Pentagon Thursday that he was not taking any options off the table following a deadly rocket attack in Iraq that killed two U.S. service members and a UK national.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Esper said the Pentagon was focused on the group believed to have perpetrated the attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. officials were hesitant Thursday to point fingers at Iran, but Kataib Hezbollah<\/a>, an Iran-backed Shia militia in Iraq, is suspected of carrying out Wednesday\u2019s attack on Camp Taji that killed three and wounded more than a dozen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marine Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., the commander of U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Thursday that his command was working hard to identify the group involved in the attack where nearly 30 107mm rockets were fired at the Iraqi base housing coalition troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\t