JOSHUA ROBERTS / REUTERS
At least thirteen pro-Iranian fighters were killed Friday in strikes in eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.
The US military carried out retaliatory strikes in Syria on Friday, following the death of three US soldiers in Jordan, targeting elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria, the Pentagon said. These strikes came shortly after Joe Biden presided over a solemn ceremony welcoming on American soil the remains of these three soldiers, killed on Sunday near the Syrian border.
At least thirteen dead
According to Fox News, citing an anonymous US Defense official, these strikes were carried out from different locations. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH), thirteen pro-Iranian fighters were killed in strikes carried out “probably” by the United States in eastern Syria.
In the middle of an election year, Democratic President Joe Biden, who does not want an extensive regional conflict, was under intense pressure from his Republican opponents to retaliate firmly after this drone attack which targeted an American logistics base. “It is very possible that you will see a graduated response, not a single action but potentially multiple actions,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said on Wednesday. Iran has denied being behind this attack which caused the first deaths of American soldiers since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas on October 7.