More than 40 people associated with militias that have been carrying out attacks against United States forces in the Middle East were killed or injured in the U.S.’s initial response to the first deadly one.
The U.S. carried out a significant response in Iraq and Syria on Feb. 2 to the deaths of three U.S. service members at a military base in northeast Jordan. More than 40 troops were wounded in the attack at Tower 22.
“Initial indications are that over 40 militants associated with Iranian proxy groups were killed or injured in the US strikes against seven facilities, which included more than 85 targets that Iran’s IRGC and affiliated militias have used to attack U.S. forces,” Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder said on Thursday.
Various U.S. officials indicated those strikes were only the start of the U.S.’s full response to the militias’ attacks against U.S. forces.
The proxies have carried out about 170 attacks against U.S. forces, one of which resulted in the deaths of Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett. More than 140 service members have been wounded.
The U.S. also carried out an airstrike in Baghdad on Wednesday targeting Abu Bakr al Saadi, a commander with the Kata’ib Hezbollah militia, the group the U.S. has accused of the strike that hit Tower 22. It angered Iraqi officials.
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Maj. Gen. Special Forces Yehia Rasool, the spokesman for the Iraqi commander in chief of the armed forces, said the U.S.’s strike demonstrated “no regard for civilian lives or international laws” and accused the U.S. of carrying out a “blatant assassination.”
U.S. officials have warned that the U.S. would not hesitate to respond to continued attacks against U.S. forces or interests in the region.
