Iran Update, November 20, 2023
Unspecified Iranian-backed militia leaders in Syria met to discuss plans for responding to US airstrikes in the region. The unspecified leaders discussed “escalatory steps” and how they would respond to US airstrikes, according to a local anti-Iranian media outlet.[41] The United States has conducted three strikes in Syria targeting Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps-affiliated groups and infrastructure to retaliate for the rocket and drone attacks against US bases in Iraq and Syria. Iranian-backed militia attacks have caused dozens of minor injuries among US personnel since October 18.[42]
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-november-20-2023
A US military AC-130 gunship struck a Kataib Hezbollah (KH) vehicle near Abu Ghraib, Iraq, on November 21 in response to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq's November 20 attack on Ain al Assad Airbase.[51] Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh confirmed on November 21 that the Islamic Resistance in Iraq attacked Ain al Assad Airbase using a close-range ballistic missile on November 20.[52] The attack resulted in “several non-serious injuries and some minor damage to infrastructure.” The US self-defense strike on November 21 marked the first US retaliatory airstrike in Iraq since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on October 7. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq additionally released a statement on November 21 announcing the death of KH fighter Fadel al Maksousi in the airstrike.[53] The Islamic Resistance in Iraq claimed that Maksousi died “in the battle of truth against falsehood embodied by the American occupation forces in Iraq.” Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba confirmed that Maksousi was a member of KH in an announcement on November 21.[54]
KH is a member of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has attacked US forces in Iraq and Syria almost daily since October 18.[55] KH has repeatedly threatened attacks on US forces in the Middle East since October 7. It most recently warned on November 16, for example, that the United States will receive the “harshest blows and slaps wherever Kataib Hezbollah's hands reach.”[56] The United States Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated six individuals belonging to KH as Specially Designated Nationals on November 17.[57] KH is already a US-designated foreign terrorist organization. OFAC reported that KH has been involved in recent attacks against the United States and its partners in Iraq and Syria since October 7.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq—a coalition of Iranian-backed Iraqi militias—conducted four attacks targeting US positions in Iraq and Syria on November 21. This group has claimed 68 attacks on US forces stationed in Iraq and Syria since October 18.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/iran-update-november-21-2023