The United States military launched an air assault targeting dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria that are supposedly used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) on Friday.
The strike was made in retaliation to a fatal drone attack that resulted in the death of three U.S. troops deployed in Jordan that was conducted last weekend. In a statement, United States President Joe Biden said that they do not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world.
However, he noted that any individual, party, or entity that seeks to do them harm will be responded to if they do hurt an American. The Democratic president and other top U.S. leaders had been issuing warnings for days that the American government would strike back at the militias.
They also made it clear that it would not just be one assault but a "tiered response" made over time. Biden said that at his direction, the U.S. military forces struck targets at facilities located in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack American forces, as per the Associated Press.
The large-scale barrage of strikes made by manned and unmanned aircraft struck more than 85 targets at seven different locations. These included command and control headquarters, intelligence centers, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites, and other facilities.
The American strikes took place over roughly 30 minutes and three of the targeted sites that were struck were located in Iraq while the other four were in Syria. The assaults appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders.
This is primarily because the U.S. government is trying to prevent the conflict from escalating even further. Iran has repeatedly denied that it was responsible for the drone attack in Jordan but National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that the targets were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties.
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Continued Attacks
The American military used more than 125 precision munitions to strike the targets and a Defense Department official said that long-range B-1B Lancer bombers were utilized for the assaults, according to Politico.
The attack that prompted the U.S. assaults targeted Tower 22, which was a small outpost located in northeast Jordan. The Biden administration attributed that particular attack to the umbrella group known as the Islamic Resistance which is based in Iraq.
The Quds Force is one of five branches of the IRGC, which is attached to the Iranian military that former U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019 designated as a terrorist organization. It was initially created during the Iran-Iraq war and was meant to be a special intelligence unit.
The recent strikes were also seen as more significant compared to previous attacks on Iranian-backed militias that were conducted over the last few weeks. The latter were primarily focused on striking weapons storage or training facilities.
However, the Biden administration is seen as threading a needle with its desire to deter and prevent further attacks while also avoiding a full-scale conflict with Iran from breaking out. This is in a region that is already in high tensions over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, said CNN.
