WASHINGTON – The United States on Friday launched attacks on 85 strongholds in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian forces and Iranian-backed militias. U.S. officials said these were the first attacks in retaliation for the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Jordan over the weekend. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the U.S. military had struck targets at seven facilities linked to attacks on U.S. service members in the region. U.S. Central Command said the facility will include command and control operations, intelligence centers, missiles and missiles, and unmanned aircraft storage facilities.
“We began our response today and will continue at a time and place of our choosing,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “The United States does not want conflict in the Middle East or any other part of the world. But please let those who might try to harm us know this, and if you If we cause harm, we will respond.” Across the Middle East – Risky move abroad and at home as Biden seeks to prevent war between Israel and Hamas Biden seeks to secure re-election found themselves involved in a major conflict.
The Biden administration has vowed that the United States will take military action after a drone attack by Iranian-backed militants on a remote US military base in Jordan injured more than 40 people. Biden attended the dignified homecoming of three American soldiers killed at Dover Air Force Base early Friday morning.
Syrian state television reported that people were killed or injured in the attack, but did not give an exact number of casualties.
Mr. Kirby said the United States did not know the number of militants killed or injured, but that the targets were chosen to avoid civilian casualties.
The targets were “based on clear and irrefutable evidence that they are related to attacks on U.S. military personnel in the region.”
The United States carried out the attack knowing that the facility was being used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, led by Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II told reporters.
“We conducted these attacks tonight with the understanding that there could be casualties associated with the people in these facilities,” he said.
The United States used more than 125 rounds of ammunition in the attack, Sims said. He said they are all precision weapons.
The Iraqi military condemns US airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias in Iraq’s border areas, calling them a “violation of Iraq’s sovereignty” and “threatening Iraq and the region with unintended consequences.” He said that there is.
Yahya Rasool Abdullah, spokesman for the Supreme Commander of the Iraqi Armed Forces, claimed that “the attack took place at a time when Iraq is striving to ensure stability in the region.”
National Security Council spokesman Kirby told reporters that the United States notified the Iraqi government before the attack began.
Before the attack, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin promised a “layered response,” and officials told NBC News that Biden had a plan expected to last days and possibly weeks. He said he agreed.\
Biden aims to stop conflict from escalating
Biden and his surrogates vowed retaliation but added warnings that Washington does not seek war with Iran or a major conflict in the region, echoing that sentiment. This was reiterated in Friday’s presidential statement. Their balanced statements seemed to indicate that retaliatory strikes were unlikely to hit targets inside Iran.
“We will continue to work to prevent large-scale conflict anywhere, but we will take all necessary steps to protect the United States, our interests, and our people,” Austin said at a Pentagon news conference Thursday.
Austin reiterated much of his statement Friday after the attack, adding in part, “The President and I will not condone attacks on U.S. troops.” united states of america.
Biden orders airstrikes targeting militant weapons depots and other locations after earlier attacks by Tehran-backed group in Iraq and Syria wounded some U.S. soldiers but did not kill them. did. However, after the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas and subsequent Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, the pace of rocket and drone attacks increased dramatically.
Since October, there have been more than 160 attacks on U.S. forces by Iranian-backed groups. 7, according to the Department of Defense.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s Houthi forces have attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with drones and missiles, and have vowed to continue their attacks until Israel ends its military operations in Gaza. 4,444 U.S. Navy warships shot down dozens of Houthi drones and missiles, some of which also hit commercial ships, prompting many major shipping companies to divert cargo to other long-distance routes. . In recent weeks, U.S. forces have also carried out attacks against Houthi forces in Yemen, attacking their launch sites and headquarters.
It is unclear whether the Biden administration will decide to use electronic intelligence to track Iranian vessels suspected of helping the Houthis find targets.
The last time the U.S. military targeted an Iranian warship was in 1988, when the Navy launched a retaliatory strike in the Persian Gulf after an Iranian-planted mine hit a U.S. warship.
Tehran denied direct involvement in the events in Jordan, but warned it would respond to any threat from the United States.
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in a televised address on Friday: “We are not going to start a war, but if anyone tries to bully us, we will receive a strong reaction.”
Hossein Salami, head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, said on Wednesday: “We have heard threats from US officials, and they have already tested us, and we have told them that we now know each other.” “No threat will go unanswered.”