He The United States Army launched a wave of bombing raids this Friday against dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three American soldiers in Jordan last weekend, officials said.
President Joe Biden and other senior officials had been warning for days that the United States would counterattack the militias, and they made clear that it would not be a single blow, but rather a “staggered response” over time.
“This afternoon, by my instruction, US military forces attacked targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and affiliated militias use to attack US forces,” Biden said in a statement. “Our response began today. It will continue at the times and places we choose.”
The Initial strikes with manned and unmanned aircraft hit more than 85 targets in seven locationsincluding command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition warehouses, and other facilities that were connected to the militias or the Quds force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, which is responsible for the relationship of Tehran with regional militias.
The US Central Command said that more than 125 precision munitions were used in the attacks, which were dropped by numerous aircraft, including long-range bombers from the United States. An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation, said B-1 bombers were used.
Two Iraqi militia officers who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to journalists said: three houses used as headquarters were attacked in Al Kaim, Iraq, including a weapons warehouse. I alsoA barracks of the Popular Mobilization Forces, a coalition of militias backed by Iran, was attacked in Akashat, Iraqand weapons warehouses.
Thes The Iraqi Armed Forces today condemned the bombings of USA in the country in retaliation for the death of three American soldiers in Jordan and warned that this action will have “unforeseen consequences” and “disastrous repercussions” in the Middle East.
”These attacks are considered a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi Government and represent a threat that will drag Iraq and the region into unforeseen consequencesthe repercussions of which will be disastrous,” Iraqi Armed Forces spokesman Yahya Rasul said in a statement.
The spokesperson pointed out that the town of Al Qaim and other areas close to the border with Syria were the target of attacks by US warplanes, and regretted that they occurred “at a time when Iraq is striving to guarantee the stability in the region.”
An Iraqi Army source with the rank of colonel told EFE on condition of anonymity that At least five pro-Iran militiamen were killed and three others wounded in “several” airstrikes against positions in Al Qaim of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah militia.
That group, which the United States points to as responsible for the death of its three soldiers, is part of the amalgamation of pro-Iran militias Islamic Resistance in Iraqwhich since the outbreak of the war in Gaza has claimed responsibility for more than 150 attacks against US positions in Iraq and Syria.
With information from EFE.
