The U.S. military has begun carrying out strikes against targets in Iraq and Syria late Friday night local time.
U.S. Central Command said it struck more than 85 targets at seven facilities, three in Iraq and four in Syria, using more than 125 precision munitions.
“The facilities that were struck included command and control operations, centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aerial vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
Friday’s strikes are in response to last weekend’s deadly attack at the small U.S. military post in northeast Jordan known as Tower 22. Three U.S. troops were killed in the attack, while more than 40 others were injured. The United States has accused the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, of carrying out the attack.
“This afternoon, at my direction, U.S. military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack U.S. forces. Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”
The administration believes the strikes were successful, according to the Pentagon’s early damage assessment, though it’s unclear whether any militants were killed, national security council coordinator John Kirby told reporters.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said the strikes targeted seven facilities that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated militias use to attack U.S. forces. He said the strikes represented “the start of our response,” because Biden “directed additional actions to hold the IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on U.S. and Coalition forces.”
Kirby reiterated the U.S. is “not looking for a war with Iran,” which he said in response to why the U.S. did not strike within Iran’s borders.
Director of the Joint Staff Lieutenant General Douglas Sims told reporters all U.S. aircraft “are out of harm’s way” indicating that U.S. strikes are presumably over for the immediate future, even as officials warned that the response will include phases.
“These responses began tonight,” Kirby affirmed. “They’re not going to end tonight.”
Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, were the first U.S. troops to be killed in the ongoing attacks carried out by Iraqi militias. President Joe Biden and Austin attended Friday’s dignified transfer, which is the process in which a fallen U.S. service member is returned to the United States via Dover Air Base, hours before the strikes began.
Biden spoke with the families of the service members earlier in the week.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“I spoke with each of the families separately, and Jill and I will be there tomorrow at Dover Air Force Base to receive the dignified transfer of their bodies,” he said at Thursday’s National Prayer Breakfast. “They’ve put their lives in harm’s way. They’ve risked it all, and I will never forget the sacrifice and service to our country of the dozens of service members who were wounded and are recovering now.”
The militias have carried out more than 160 rocket and drone attacks since mid-October targeting U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Kirby said in a briefing immediately after the strikes that the U.S. government had warned Iraq ahead of the strikes, but acknowledged that was incorrect on Tuesday, February 6, 2024.
