By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) – The US carried out retaliatory airstrikes on Friday in Iraq and Syria towards greater than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and the militias it backs, the U.S. navy stated, after a lethal assault in Jordan that killed three U.S. troops and injured some 40 others.
The strikes are believed to be simply the primary in a multi-tiered response by President Joe Biden’s administration to the assault final weekend carried out by Iran-backed militants.
Whereas the U.S. strikes didn’t goal any areas inside Iran, they’re prone to enhance concern about tensions escalating within the Center East amid a widening fallout from Israel’s greater than three-month-old conflict with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza.
The U.S. navy stated in a press release that the strikes hit targets together with command and management facilities, rockets, missiles and drone storage services, in addition to logistics and munition provide chain services.
The strikes hit greater than 85 targets spanning seven areas with greater than 125 munitions and included the usage of long-range bombers that flew from the USA, the navy stated.
They focused the Quds Pressure – the overseas espionage and paramilitary arm of the IRGC that closely influences its allied militia throughout the Center East, from Lebanon to Iraq and Yemen to Syria.
Syrian state media stated on Friday that an “American aggression” on websites in its desert areas and on the Syrian-Iraqi border resulted in numerous casualties and accidents.
Earlier on Friday, Biden and Pentagon leaders attended the Dover Air Pressure Base in Delaware because the stays of the three American troopers killed within the Jordan assault had been returned.
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The Jordan assault was the primary lethal strike towards U.S. troops for the reason that Israel-Hamas conflict erupted in October.
The US has assessed that the drone that killed the three troopers and wounded greater than 40 different folks was made by Iran, U.S. officers have informed Reuters.
“Our response started right this moment. It is going to proceed at instances and locations of our selecting,” Biden stated in a press release.
U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin stated Biden had directed further motion towards the IRGC and people linked to it.
“That is the beginning of our response,” Austin stated.
However the Pentagon has stated it doesn’t need conflict with Iran and doesn’t consider Tehran needs conflict both, whilst Republican stress has elevated on Biden to deal a blow immediately towards Iran.
“We don’t search battle within the Center East or anyplace else, however the president and I can’t tolerate assaults on American forces,” Austin stated.
Earlier than the retaliatory strikes on Friday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi stated that Iran wouldn’t begin a conflict however would “reply strongly” to anybody who tried to bully it.
Iranian advisers help armed teams in each Iraq, the place the U.S. has round 2,500 troops, and Syria, the place it has 900. The IRGC has not too long ago scaled again deployment of senior officers in Syria attributable to a spate of lethal Israeli strikes.
U.S. troops have been attacked over 160 instances in Iraq, Syria and Jordan for the reason that Hamas rampage in Israel that killed 1,200 folks, in response to Israel tallies, and sparked the battle on Oct. 7.
Houthi fighters in Yemen have been firing drones and missiles at ships within the Purple Sea, which they are saying is meant to help Palestinians towards Israel.
No less than 26,422 Palestinians have been killed and 65,087 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7, in response to Gaza’s well being ministry.
The US has already retaliated in Iraq, Syria and Yemen in response to earlier assaults by Iran-backed teams, together with towards an IRGC facility.
The transfer may complicate the U.S. navy presence in Iraq.
Baghdad and Washington have agreed to arrange a committee to start out talks on the way forward for the U.S.-led navy coalition in Iraq with the purpose of setting a timetable for a phased withdrawal of troops and the tip of the U.S.-led coalition towards Islamic State.
Iraq’s shadowy Kataib Hezbollah, which is blamed for the Jordan assault, stated on Tuesday it will pause assaults on U.S. forces.
However one other Iran-backed Iraqi group, Nujaba, stated it will proceed launching assaults on U.S. forces within the area till the Gaza conflict ends and U.S. forces exit Iraq.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart. Further reporting by Jeff Mason; modifying by Diane Craft and Rosalba O’Brien)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2024.
