The United States carried out strikes Thursday against two facilities used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and “affiliated groups” in eastern Syria, US Defense Minister Lloyd Austin announced.
The Pentagon announced the two operations after President Joe Biden sent a message to Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warning against any attack on US troops that threatens to widen the war. ongoing between Israel and Hamas. “A direct message has been sent. I will not go any further,” confirmed a White House spokesperson, John Kirby.
“These self-defense and precision strikes are a response to a series of ongoing, mostly failed, attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militias” since October 17 , Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
American citizen dies of heart attack
According to the Pentagon, a US citizen died of a heart attack while taking cover during one of the attacks, and 21 others were lightly injured but have since returned to work.
President Biden ordered the strikes “to make it clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel and its interests,” Austin warned.
“These well-targeted self-defense strikes (…) are separate and distinct from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, and do not constitute a change in our approach” regarding this war, insisted Mr. Austin.
Earlier Thursday, the Pentagon said that American forces and their allies had been the target of at least 16 drone and missile attacks (12 in Iraq and four in Syria) since the start of the month.
3,400 American soldiers in Syria and Iraq
Armed groups close to Iran have threatened to attack American bases in the Middle East because of Washington’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in the Gaza Strip and close to Tehran.
On Wednesday, Ayatollah Khamenei accused the United States of “in some way directing” Israel’s operations against Hamas. The same day, Joe Biden warned Iran against any attack targeting American troops. “My warning to the Ayatollah is that if they continue to act against these troops, we will retaliate, and they must be ready. This has nothing to do with Israel,” he said.
Washington has around 900 soldiers in Syria and nearly 2,500 in Iraq who fight the Islamic State organization and frequently carry out attacks targeting jihadists.