Tension in the Middle East: US launches attacks on Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria

The United States launched airstrikes this Friday against Iran-backed groups in Syria and Iraq after three American soldiers were killed in a drone strike on a military base in Jordan last weekend.

at least 16 people including many civilians have died According to the Iraqi government, there is also news of 25 people being injured in the bomb blasts.

US President Joe Biden said after the attack, “Tell anyone who wants to harm us: If you harm an American, we will respond.”

He further said, “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”

Officials said the US was planning several days of military action against targets in Iraq and Syria, the BBC’s US affiliate CBS News reported.

US military launched air strikes against Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps US Central Command reported that Iran’s (IRGC) and affiliated militia groups at midnight local time (21:00 GMT).

they reached over 85 objectivesThat includes command and control operations, hubs, intelligence centres, rockets and missiles, drone storage sites and militia group ammunition supply chains and logistics facilities, he said.

The Unified Command said multiple aircraft were involved, including US long-range bombers, and more than 125 precision munitions were used.

The bombings represent, and will be, a “violation” of Iraqi sovereignty “Devastating consequences for the security and stability of Iraq and the region”General Yehia Rasoul, a spokesman for the Iraqi prime minister, responded, according to AFP.

SANA agency reported in a release that the Syrian Foreign Ministry also condemned the US strikes, which it believes “once again demonstrate that its military forces threaten international peace and security and Instigate conflict in the region.”

US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: The targets attacked were selected to avoid civilian casualties. And “based on clear and irrefutable evidence that they were related to attacks against American personnel in the area.”

This is the beginning of an anticipated US retaliation for the attack in northeastern Jordan.

U.S. service members have been repeatedly attacked in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed groups since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began last October, but Sunday’s incident marks the first time U.S. troops have been involved in attacks in the region this period. The first is death. ,

US intelligence believes the drone used to attack the military base was manufactured by Iran, according to four US officials. reuters,

The three dead soldiers were identified as Army Reserve soldiers William Rivers, 46, and Kennedy Sanders and Breonna Moffett, both 20.

At least 41 other people were injured.

The White House has said it will do whatever is necessary to protect the troops, although it stressed it does not want war with Iran.

there is one Numerous Iran-backed militias have numerous bases, weapons warehouses and training depots throughout Iraq and Syria.,

These militias are trained, equipped and funded by the Quds Force, but not necessarily led by them.

These militias have carried out more than 170 attacks on US targets in the region since October 7. America claims to know who and where they are.

The US has already launched missile strikes on some of these targets following separate attacks on American troops.

The wide range of targets and the amount of weapons used represent a larger response than any the US has undertaken in Iraq and Syria since October 7, according to BBC diplomatic correspondent Paul Adams, but some critics of the Biden administration is smaller than the reaction done by.

There were no attacks on Iranian soil, and an Iranian warship in the Red Sea, believed to be directly involved in Houthi attacks on commercial shipping, was not targeted.

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