Abu Bakr Al-Saadi’s done.

On Wednesday evening, the Kataib Hezbollah underboss was tooling around Baghdad in an SUV when… well, you know the rest.

Images of the vehicle’s charred remains, as well as fiery footage from the scene, circulated widely on social media. Shortly thereafter, US Central Command said American forces carried out a “unilateral strike” in the city.

Although the US didn’t name Al-Saadi, sources close to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, the Quds-allied confederation of PMF militia that includes Kataib Hezbollah and Al-Nujaba, said he was the target.

Subsequently, the PMF confirmed his death, as did Kataib Hezbollah. “We swear we won’t be silent,” the group declared, in a caption below a picture of the slain lieutenant.

In notifying the public of the strike, the Pentagon referred only to “a Kataib Hezbollah commander responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on US forces in the region.” No civilians were believed to be harmed.

This would be the second top-ranking IRI commander assassinated by the US in Baghdad in two months. On January 4, Mushtaq Taleb Al-Saidi, a deputy operations chief for the PMF and a high-ranking Al-Nujaba officer, was likewise incinerated by a US drone.

On Wednesday, Al-Nujaba implored Baghdad to take a harder line in discussions with the US. “This violation will not be the last if there is no strict official position from the Iraqi government,” the group said, calling Al-Saadi’s death a “crime that will not go unpunished.”

Wednesday’s strike was, of course, retaliation for the attack on a remote US outpost in Jordan that killed three US service members in January. Joe Biden authorized large-scale airstrikes on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria last week in an effort to degrade the militias’ capacity to target US assets (and also to put on a fireworks show as a reminder of America’s capabilities).

Following the bombardment, Biden, as well as Pentagon officials and national security personnel, indicated that additional measures targeting the groups were a foregone conclusion.

According to various accounts, Wednesday’s strike happened on a prominent boulevard running through Mashtal, a neighborhood in eastern Baghdad. Locals thronged to the site, where first responders and police officers pondered the husk of an overturned vehicle. The Green Zone was closed given the likelihood of angry protests.

The Iraqi military decried “a clear violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” and said blame for the fallout would rest with “the American side.”

Last week, Kataib Hezbollah announced the suspension of military operations against US personnel ostensibly to save the Iraqi government additional embarrassment. But the group’s statement made clear their real motive for extending the bizarre olive branch: They were attempting to exculpate their benefactor in Tehran, where the theocracy was likely concerned the US might strike targets inside Iran in retaliation for the death of US troops.

Iran’s “Axis Of Resistance,” as well as the IRGC itself, has suffered more than half a dozen high-profile losses to drone attacks and assassinations carried out by the US and Israel in Baghdad and Damascus since late December. Add Al-Saadi to the list.