US soldiers injured in raid during 'non-combat' mission in Iraq

Seven U.S. soldiers were injured raiding a suspected ISIS hideout in Western Iraq on Thursday, according to a Centcom press release late Friday.

According to U.S. Central Command, 15 ISIS fighters were killed in the raid, which was "partnered" by U.S. and Iraqi forces. The ISIS fighters, according to Centcom, were holed up with "numerous weapons, grenades, and explosive 'suicide” belts'" in the early morning hours of Aug. 29 when the raid occurred.

Officials said there were no civilian casualties. In an X post, a spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said the raid happened in the "Anbar desert in the Al-Hazimi area east of Wadi Al-Ghadaf."

According to the Associated Press, a U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity "to discuss details of the operation yet to be made public," said that five American troops were wounded in the raid, while two others suffered injuries from falls during the operation. One who suffered a fall was transported 'out of the region' while one of the wounded was evacuated for further treatment, the official said," according to the wire service.

The U.S. has some 2500 troops still in Iraq and their presence, since the Iraq War officially ended in 2011, continues to be a constant source of debate. And while they are supposedly there in an "advise and assist" capacity, it is clear when we hear about these raids, that they are still fighting a war, albeit a low grade one that runs far beneath the American people's radar.

The raid reported Friday "shows that ISIS remains a latent albeit manageable threat in less populated areas of Iraq," said Adam Weinstein, a Middle East fellow for the Quincy Institute, who published research in April with colleague Stephen Simon entitled "Troops in Peril: The Risks of Keeping U.S. Troops in Iraq and Syria." 

“But it also demonstrates that the US advisory mission in Iraq isn’t entirely advisory — U.S. troops are still involved in combat here and there,” he added.

In December 2021 the Pentagon announced that Operation Inherent Resolve was successfully transitioning from a combat role against ISIS to an "advise, assist, and enable" mission. "According to the agreement, there would be no U.S. forces with a combat role in Iraq by December 31, 2021. Iraqi forces, operating on Iraqi bases, protect Coalition personnel who are invited guests. While Coalition personnel do not have a combat role, they maintain the inherent right of self-defense," the Pentagon said.

Those words have become fairly fungible as the U.S. has had to engage its own missile defense capabilities to combat militant attacks at U.S.-occupied basis in Iraq consistently since 2020, and conduct intermittent ground raids by U.S. and Iraq forces (as well as more frequently reported ones by U.S. troops against ISIS in Syria).

“It’s important that jargon not get in the way of reality. Direct combat isn’t exactly an advisory mission," noted Weinstein.

The two governments came together in Washington to talk about an agreement for withdrawal this summer but did not come to any conclusions at the end of the summit. Meanwhile, voices here in the U.S. continue to question whether a) the anti-ISIS is still worth putting U.S. service members in harm's way on the ground, and b) whether they will get swept up in broader violent currents in the Middle East generated by the Israeli war in Gaza.

"The continued U.S. presence in Iraq and Syria needlessly risks Americans lives in pursuit of objectives not tied to America's national interest while raising the likelihood that the U.S. will get dragged into a larger regional war," Dan Caldwell, Public Policy Advisor for Defense Priorities, who is also a U.S. veteran who served in the same region as Thursday's raid, told RS.

"The reality is that the scattered remnants of ISIS pose a greater threat to Iran and its proxies than the U.S. Therefore, it is pointless to risk American lives pursuing them in the most desolate parts of the Anbar desert."