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United States begins retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria, attacking 85 targets linked to Iran’s military

The US military has launched air strikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and the militias it backs, in retaliation for last weekend’s attack in Jordan that killed three US troops.

The strikes, which included the use of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the US, are the first in a multi-tiered response by President Joe Biden’s administration to the attack by Iran-backed militants.

More US military operations are expected in the coming days.

Mr Biden said the country’s response would continue at “times and places of our choosing”.

“This afternoon, at my direction, US military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack US forces,” Mr 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.”

A spokesperson for Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said Australia condemned attacks by Iran-backed militant groups on US service members in Jordan.

“The United States has made clear it carried out these strikes in response,” the spokesperson said.

“We know Iran has been a malignant actor in the region for some time, including by supporting Hamas and other terrorists.”

While the US strikes did not target sites inside Iran, they signal a further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East from Israel’s more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

The US military said in a statement that the strikes hit targets including command and control centres, rockets, missiles and drone storage facilities, as well as logistics and munition supply chain facilities.

For about 30 minutes, US forces hit more than 85 targets spanning seven locations — four in Syria and three in Iraq, according to the military.

The strikes targeted the Quds Force — the foreign espionage and paramilitary arm of the IRGC that heavily influences its allied militia across the Middle East, from Lebanon to Iraq and Yemen to Syria.

Two Iraqi militia officials told the Associated Press that three houses used as headquarters were targeted in al-Qaim, Iraq, including a weapons storage area.

An operations headquarters of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias, in Akashat, Iraq, and weapons stores were targeted.

Iraq says strikes violate sovereignty

US Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, said the attacks appeared to be successful, triggering large secondary explosions as the bombs hit militant weaponry, though it was not clear if any militants were killed.

The strikes were taken knowing that there would likely be casualties among those in the facilities, he said.

He added that the weather was a key factor in the timing of the operation.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the targets “were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties and based on clear, irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on US personnel in the region”.

Syrian state media said on Friday that an “American aggression” on sites in its desert areas and at the Syrian-Iraqi border resulted in a number of casualties and injuries.

An Iraqi military spokesman said the strikes were “a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, and pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences”.

“The outcomes will have severe implications on the security and stability in Iraq and the surrounding region,” he said.

Following the comments, the White House said it had informed Iraq ahead of strikes against three militant sites in the country.

Before the strikes, Iran’s hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated earlier promises by Tehran to potentially retaliate for any US strikes targeting its interests.

“[We] will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response,” he said.

Biden meets with families of troops killed in Jordan

While the US strikes did not target any locations inside Iran, they are likely to increase concern about tensions escalating in the Middle East from Israel’s more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.

Syrian state media said on Friday that an “American aggression” on sites in Syria’s desert areas and the Syrian and Iraqi border resulted in a number of casualties and injuries.

It came just hours after the bodies of three US soldiers killed in the Jordan attack were returned to American soil, landing at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Mr Biden, first lady Jill Biden and Pentagon leaders joined the grieving families of Sgt William Jerome Rivers, Sgt, Kennedy Sanders and Sgt Breonna Moffett in a solemn ritual honouring the three.

The Jordan attack was the first deadly strike against US troops since the Israel-Gaza war started in October and marked a major escalation in tensions.

The US has assessed that the drone that killed three of its soldiers and also wounded more than 40 other people was made by Iran, US officials have told Reuters.

Article link: https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/united-states-begins-retaliatory-strikes-in-iraq-and-syria-attacking-85-targets-linked-to-irans-military/ar-BB1hGRlz
Article source: ABC/Wires | 4 February 2024

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