Iraq PM says he tried to stop US airstrikes

In a partly televised Cabinet meeting Monday, Iraq's caretaker Prime Minister el Abdel-Mahdi said he h tried to stop US airstrikes on targets within Iraq from happening "but re was insistence" from US officials.  US military carried out strikes Sunday against Iranian-backed Kataeb Hezbollah militia, calling it retaliation for last week's killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it blamed on group.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said strikes send mess US will t tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardise American lives. US military said "precision defensive strikes" were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Briges, in Iraq and Syria.  group, which is a separate force from Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under umbrella of state-sanctioned militias kwn collectively as Popular Mobilisation Forces. Many of m are supported by Iran.