US bombs Iran-linked targets in Syria, Iraq
WASHINGTON—The United States launched airstrikes against Iranian forces and allied militias in Iraq and Syria on Friday, with President Joe Biden vowing more to come in retaliation for a deadly drone attack on an American base in Jordan.
The United States blamed Sunday’s drone attack on forces backed by Iran, but did not strike inside the country’s territory on Friday.
“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” Biden said in a statement.
“The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond,” he added.
The strikes targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and “affiliated militia groups,” with American forces—including long-range bombers flown from the United States—hitting “more than 85 targets,” the US Central Command said in a statement.
“The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions,” it added. Targets included command and control and intelligence centers, as well as rocket, missile and drone storage facilities belonging to “militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against US and coalition forces.”
Casualties
The strikes killed 23 pro-Iran fighters in Syria’s east, according to war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
An Iraqi government statement said 16 were killed in US airstrikes in the country.
Gen. Yehia Rasool, a spokesperson for Iraq’s prime minister, called the strikes a “violation” of his country’s sovereignty and said they would bring “disastrous consequences for the security and stability of Iraq and the region.”
Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani has recently called for the departure of international troops from Iraq after a previous US strike in Baghdad.
US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Washington “did inform the Iraqi government prior to the strikes,” but did not elaborate on Baghdad’s response.
Kirby told journalists the strikes lasted about 30 minutes, though they involved a lengthy trip for the B-1 bombers that flew from the United States.
More to followHe said the Defense Department was still assessing damage from the strikes, but added the United States believed they were successful and made clear that more would follow.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said that at least 26 major sites housing pro-Iranian groups were destroyed in Syria, including weapons depots.
A weapons warehouse and a command center belonging to pro-Iranian groups were also targeted in western Iraq, along the Syrian border, two Iraq security sources told AFP, resulting in at least “some injuries.”
The strikes represent a “significant escalation,” said Allison McManus, of the Center for American Progress.
