On Friday, February 2, the United States carried out retaliatory strikes targeting personnel from the Al-Quds Force, the foreign operations branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria, in at the same time as the remains of three American soldiers, killed in Jordan, were repatriated to the United States, announced the American military command for the Middle East (Centcom).
At least eighteen pro-Iranian fighters, including five in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, were killed in these thirty-minute airstrikes on eastern Syria and western Iraq, reported the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH).
Joe Biden had promised to respond to the deadly drone attack carried out on Sunday January 28 near the Syrian border, and attributed by Washington to groups supported by Iran. “Our response began today. It will continue according to the schedule and in the places that we decide”the president said on Friday. “The United States does not want conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let those who want to harm us know this well: if you touch an American, we will respond”he further indicated in a press release, a few hours after witnessing the return of the bodies of the three American soldiers killed.
The American executive had indicated that the reprisals would be multiple and spread over time, against different targets.
Eighty-five targeted sites
For his part, General Yehia Rasool, military spokesperson for the Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Chia Al-Soudani, criticized in a press release a “violation of sovereignty” of Iraq following these airstrikes. He added he feared consequences “disastrous for the security and stability of Iraq and the region”.
The strikes “involved more than 125 precision munitions”Centcom said in its statement, specifying that they had targeted more than 85 sites including command and intelligence centers, as well as drone and missile storage infrastructure belonging to militias and Iranian forces. “who enabled attacks on US and coalition forces”, including that of Sunday. The Pentagon said the strikes had mobilized numerous combat aircraft, including long-range bombers.
“An HQ of armed factions in the Al-Qaim area was targeted, it is a small arms warehouse according to preliminary information”, an official at the Iraqi Interior Ministry, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Agence France-Presse. An official from Hachd Al-Chaabi, a coalition of former paramilitaries bringing together these pro-Iran factions, confirmed this strike and another bombing targeting a position in the Al-Akachat region, further south.
Intense pressure
The American army took action the day its commander in chief, on the tarmac of the Dover military base (Delaware), paid tribute to the three soldiers killed. The bodies of William Jerome Rivers, Kennedy Ladon Sanders and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, soldiers from the American state of Georgia, were taken out one by one, in coffins covered with the American flag, from an imposing military transport plane. The 81-year-old president remained motionless in the cold wind, his hand on his heart and his gaze fixed straight ahead, as the bodies passed by.
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The Democrat, campaigning for a second term, faces intense pressure from his Republican opponents to respond strongly to Iran.
Former President Donald Trump, the arch-favorite for his party’s nomination, has already attacked the ” weakness “ from his Democratic opponent, while American forces in the Middle East have suffered numerous attacks since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas. Joe Biden, however, repeats that he does not want regional escalation or open conflict with Iran.