The US conducted airstrikes targeting two installations related to Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria on Thursday, following a series of drone and rocket attacks against US soldiers in the region.
This was disclosed in a statement from Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin.
According to the statement, the facilities have been used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and allied factions in Iran.
Austin called the strikes, ordered by President Joe Biden, “narrowly tailored in self-defense” and stressed that they are unrelated to the continuing battle in Gaza.
In the statement, he specifically accused Iran of playing a role in the attacks on US forces, adding, “Iran wants to hide its hand and deny its role in these attacks against our forces. “We will not allow it. “Austin also threatened more strikes if Iran’s proxies continued to attack.
The Biden administration has already carried out strikes against militias, but at this moment of great tension, the US wants to send a clear message to Iran and the militias not to intensify their attacks and cause a wider battle in the Middle East. The area is on edge as the Israel-Hamas conflict, sparked by Hamas’s heinous terror act on October 7, continues.
Earlier Thursday, the US announced the deployment of approximately 900 troops to the Middle East, with the possibility of many more. The US has also relocated two carrier strike groups to the eastern Mediterranean Sea, as well as an amphibious readiness group closer to Israel in Middle Eastern waters.
Since October 17, there have been an increasing number of attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria. As of Thursday afternoon, US forces have been attacked at least 12 times in Iraq and four times in Syria, resulting in the deaths of 21 US service members. According to the Pentagon, all of the injuries were minor, and the troops have returned to duty. As a result of a false alert at one of the bases in Iraq, one US civilian contractor died of a heart attack.
Biden offered a harsh warning to Iran on Wednesday about its proxies attacking US personnel in the region. “My warning to the ayatollah was that if they continued to move against those troops, we would respond, and they should be prepared.” Biden also stated that the presence of US forces in Iraq and Syria is solely for the purpose of defeating ISIS and has nothing to do with the current conflict in Israel.
However, during an extraordinary session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stated that the US “will not be spared from this fire” if the war in Gaza does not end.
Earlier this week, the minister stated that Iran had received two messages from the United States, but he refused to specify how or when the messages were sent.
The first message stated that the US was not interested in escalating the confrontation, while the second encouraged Iran and its partners to exercise prudence.
The last documented US strike in the region against Iranian-backed militias came in March, when the military bombed a facility used by militants associated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It came after a string of drone and rocket attacks on US sites in the region.
Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said Thursday that the US “will always reserve the right to self-defence” and that retaliation for the drone and missile attacks will take place “at a time and place of our choosing.”
Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said Thursday that the US “will always reserve the right to self-defence” and that retaliation for the drone and missile attacks will take place “at a time and place of our choosing.”
