WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. Pentagon said it conducted airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in retaliation for a flood of drones and missiles. Attacks on U.S. military bases and military personnel It started in the area early last week.
The latest attack reflects the Biden administration’s determination to maintain a delicate balance. The United States wants to strike as hard as possible against Iranian-backed groups suspected of targeting the United States to deter future invasions. Israel’s war against HamasAt the same time, it seeks to avoid inciting the region and provoking wider conflict.
Air Force Brigadier General Pat Ryder said Friday that the attack by F-16 and F-15 fighter jets near Bukamal targeted a weapons and ammunition storage facility used by the Revolutionary Guards and related groups. “Both facilities were destroyed,” he said. “Currently, it is determined that there were no casualties as a result of the attack.”
A senior U.S. military official said there were Iranian militias and Revolutionary Guards personnel on the base, but no civilians. The official did not say how many munitions were fired by the fighter jets.
A senior defense official said the site was chosen because the Revolutionary Guards store the type of ammunition used in attacks on U.S. bases and troops. Two officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity after the strike, giving details of the mission that have not yet been made public.
Syrian opposition activists have confirmed a US attack on Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor province. Omar Abu Laila, a Europe-based activist who heads the media outlet Deir Ezzor 24, said the main target was an area known as the “Farm” on the outskirts of Mayadeen town. He said it is an important transit point where weapons from Iran are stored before being transported to Lebanon.
He said the second attack hit an area known as the “green belt” in the Bukamal region, which borders Iraq. Some people fled before the attack because they expected retaliation, Abu Laila said. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the rebel war, said ambulances were seen rushing to the scene but it was not clear whether there were any casualties.
Meanwhile, on Friday, Iran’s semi-state news agency Tasnim reported that armed groups in eastern Syria fired 10 rockets at a base housing American troops in retaliation for a US airstrike. U.S. officials confirmed the rocket attack and said no casualties were reported.
The Iraqi Islamic Resistance Movement, an umbrella organization for several Iranian-backed groups, also said its warplanes had attacked al-Asad air base in western Iraq with a suicide drone. U.S. officials said the plane was shot down several kilometers away and did not directly hit the base.
As of Friday, there had been at least 20 attacks on U.S. military bases and U.S. service members in Iraq and Syria since Oct. 17, according to the Pentagon. Rider said 21 U.S. service members were injured in two of the drone strikes targeting Iraq’s al-Asad air base. and al-Tanf garrison in Syria.
“The precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of sustained and largely unsuccessful attacks against U.S. military personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militias that began on October 17,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement. ”.
“The airstrikes are intended to establish deterrence and are conducted in a manner that limits the risk of escalation and avoids civilian casualties,” President Joe Biden said in a letter to Congressional leaders on Friday. I am committed to protect and defend U.S. personnel, to undermine and disrupt the ongoing series of attacks against the United States and our partners, and to prevent further attacks by Iran and Iranian-backed militias against American persons. directed the attack to prevent them from carrying out or supporting the attack, and equipment.”
A senior defense official told reporters that the airstrikes would have a significant impact on Iran’s proxies’ ability to continue attacking U.S. forces. Asked what groups were being targeted, the official said there were several groups with different names, but that the U.S. does not provide the Iranian government with funding, arming, equipping or directing its proxies. He said he was holding the company accountable. The official said the airstrikes were not aimed at escalating the conflict in the region, but rather to force Iran to tell its militias to stop attacking U.S. military bases and U.S. personnel. .
The Biden administration has not accused Iran of direct involvement in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, saying so far that Iran appeared not to have known about it beforehand. But the United States has expressed concern that Iran and its proxies could turn the conflict into a broader war, noting that Iran has supported Hamas for years.
Austin said the United States is not seeking a broader conflict, but said the United States would not hesitate to take additional action to protect its forces if Iranian proxies persist.
All U.S. service members injured in the insurgent attack suffered minor injuries and all returned to duty, the Pentagon said. Additionally, a contractor suffered cardiac arrest and died while being evacuated from a possible drone attack.
The retaliatory attack was not surprising. Pentagon and White House officials have made it clear over the past week that the United States would respond, and Ryder reiterated Thursday that it would respond “at a time and place of our choosing.”
A recent spate of strikes by Iranian-linked groups came in the wake of a deadly explosion at a hospital in the Gaza Strip, sparking protests in many Muslim countries. The Israeli military has been relentlessly attacking Gaza in retaliation for the devastating Hamas insurgency in southern Israel nearly three weeks ago, but Israel denies responsibility for the al-Ahli hospital bombing and the U.S. announced that an intelligence investigation had found that Tel Aviv was not responsible.
The United States, including the Pentagon, has repeatedly said any response by the United States would lead directly to attacks on forces focused on combating Islamic State militants in the region. They said the attack was unrelated to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Such retaliations and attacks against Iranian targets in Syria are common following similar attacks on US military bases.
For example, in March, after an Iran-linked attack in northeastern Syria killed one U.S. contractor and injured seven other Americans, the U.S. attacked the base. American F-15 fighter jets took off from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar and attacked several locations around Deir el-Zour.
Although U.S. officials have not publicly linked the recent series of attacks in Syria and Iraq to the violence in Gaza, Iranian officials have said that the U.S. provided Israel with the weapons used in the Gaza attack, which left civilians dead. He has openly criticized the government for issuing
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Associated Press writer Bassem Mourou contributed from Beirut.
