 U.S. strikes Hezbollah targets in Iraq, responding to drone attack on American base. A drone attack by an Iran-affiliated terrorist group on a military base in Iraq left three U.S. service members wounded, the Pentagon said, and prompted President Biden to order retaliatory strikes. The attack on the Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq was conducted by Qataib Hezbollah militants, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. One of the three service members wounded is in critical condition, Austin disclosed. It should be noted that on the morning of December 25th in northern Iraq, U.S. military personnel were attacked by a one-way drone. As a result of the attack, three soldiers were wounded, one of them is in serious condition. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Qataib Hezbollah militia and related groups operating under the auspices of Iranian-backed militants. In response, U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the Department of Defense to prepare options for a response. Those options were then presented to the president during a call this afternoon with Secretary of Defense Austin and members of the president's national security team. During the call, the president directed strikes against three locations utilized by Qataib Hezbollah and affiliated groups focused specifically on unmanned aerial drone activities the White House says. There have been dozens of attacks by Iranian-backed militias targeting U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the violent October 7 terrorist assault on Israel by Hamas, a group that U.S. officials have long said receives financial and material support from Iran. Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants regularly fire rockets at Israeli outposts and forces on the border. On December 20th, Israeli Defense Forces fighter jets attacked Hezbollah's operational command center in Lebanon.