The US military launched an airstrike against an Iranian-backed paramilitary base in Syria on Thursday. Multiple targets were attacked by an airstrike that President Biden approved.
Biden ordered US airstrike against Syria
A top US official told Fox News that the strike was a defensive tactic intended to stop and prevent possible rocket attacks by the militia group that recently struck Baghdad and Erbil.
According to Marine Corps Times, US troops attacked a border checkpoint in eastern Syria used by Iranian-backed militant groups about 6 PM East Standard Time Thursday afternoon. The Pentagon press secretary confirmed to reporters that the US airstrike was in revenge for recent missile attacks on US bases in Iraq and coalition forces and civilians, including wounded an American service member and killed a civilian contractor.
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The attacks, ordered by President Joe Biden, "destroyed numerous installations," said John Kirby, used by forces like Kat'ib Hezbollah and Kat'ib Sayyid Lal'shuhada. "This proportionate military response was carried out in accordance with diplomatic initiatives, including coordination with coalition allies," Kirby said.
"The operation sends a strong message: President Biden will intervene to defend the workers of the American alliance. Around the same time, we have worked deliberately to de-escalate the overall situation in East Syria and Iraq."
On February 15, three 107 mm rockets targeted the Iraqi airbase in Irbil, where US troops are stationed, killing one U.S.-led coalition contractor and wounding US service members and others, Iraqi security officials, raising concerns of fresh warfare, coalition officials announced.
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The airstrike attacked buildings in the eastern Syrian town of Al Bukamal belonging to Kataib Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed militias that have conducted rocket attacks in Iraq in the past, the US official said. Another official identified the airstrike as hitting the area through which the smuggling took place, as per ABC News.
The Pentagon did not blame the attack on Iranian-backed militias, even though forensic information retrieved shortly after the attack pointed to ties with Iranian-backed militias that had carried out similar attacks in the past.
Press Secretary of the White House Jen Psaki said last week that the US "reserves the right to respond in the time and manner of our discretion" to the attack. This article is developing and is going to be updated.
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