A U.S. airstrike in Syria has damaged facilities at a powerful Iraqi Iraqi armed group that killed one of its militants and wounded several others, an Iraqi military official said on Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden said Friday that Iran should view its decision to authorize U.S. airstrikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support of militia groups that threaten U.S. interests or personnel.
“You can not act with impunity. Be careful, ”Biden said when asked by a reporter what message he intended to send with the airstrikes, which according to the Pentagon destroyed several buildings in eastern Syria but were not intended for the militia groups that used them. to facilitate, not eradicate, attacks within Iraq.
Administrative officials defended the airstrikes on Thursday night as legal and appropriate, saying they were taking out facilities containing valuable “capabilities” used by military groups backed by Iran to attack US and allied forces in Iraq.
Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby said members of Congress were notified before the attacks when two F-15E aircraft from the air force launched seven missiles, destroying nine facilities and severely damaging two others, both of which ‘functionally destroyed’. He said the facilities, at ‘access points’ at the border, had been used by militia groups that the US blamed for recent attacks on US interests in Iraq.
In a political twist for the new Democratic government, several leading members of Congress in Biden’s own party denounced the strikes, which were the first military actions he approved. Democrats said the airstrikes were done without the permission of lawmakers, while Republicans were more supportive.
“Offensive military action without the approval of Congress is not constitutionally absent extraordinary circumstances,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. And Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Said lawmakers should keep the current government on the same standards as any other. “Retaliation strikes are not necessary to prevent a looming threat,” he said, having to get permission from Congress.
But Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the Republican’s ranking in the Senate’s Armed Services Committee, supports the decision as ‘the correct, proportionate response to protect American lives’.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday that Biden had used his constitutional authority to defend U.S. personnel.
“The targets have been chosen to match the recent attacks on facilities and to ward off the risk of additional attacks in the coming weeks,” she said.
Among the recent attacks is a rocket attack in northern Iraq on February 15 in which one civilian contractor was killed and a US service member and other coalition troops wounded.
At the Pentagon, Kirby said the operation was a “defensive strike” at a road station used by militants to transport weapons and equipment for attacks in Iraq. But he noted that the militias had other sites and capabilities, although it sent a deterrent message and weakened their ability to strike off the connection. He said the strikes led to “casualties” but declined to provide further details on how many people were killed or injured and who were inside the buildings, pending the completion of a broader evaluation of the damage done.
An Iraqi military official said Friday that a fighter had been killed and several others wounded.
Kirby said the facilities hit during the attack were near Boukamal, on the Syrian side of the Iraqi border, along the Euphrates River.
“It is known that it enables the military group activity that is in line with the Iranian line,” he said. He described the site as a “compound” formerly used by the Islamic State group when it ruled the area.
The Iraqi military official told the Associated Press that the strikes against the Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, hit an area along the border between the Syrian territory of Boukamal and Qaim on the Iraqi side. The officer was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Thursday night, shortly after the airstrikes were carried out, ‘I am confident in the target we are pursuing. We know what hit us. ‘
Biden’s decision to attack Syria does not appear to be an intention to increase US military involvement in the region, but rather to demonstrate a willingness to defend US troops in Iraq and send a message to To send Iran. In its first weeks, the government in Biden emphasized the intention to focus more on the challenges facing China, even if the threats are from the Middle East.
The US has previously targeted facilities in Syria belonging to Kataeb Hezbollah, which has blamed numerous attacks on US personnel and interests in Iraq. The Iraqi Kataeb stands apart from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group in Britain monitoring the war in Syria, said the strikes were aimed at a consignment of weapons being taken by trucks from Iraq to Syrian territories. The group said 22 fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi umbrella group of mostly Shiite paramilitaries including Kataeb Hezbollah, were killed. The report could not be verified independently.
In a statement, the group confirmed that one of its fighters had been killed and said they reserved the right to retaliate without expanding. Kataeb Hezbollah, like other Iranian-backed factions, is holding on to fighters in Syria to fight both against the Islamic State group and assist Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces in the country’s civil war.
Austin said he was confident the U.S. had hit back at “the same Shia militants” who carried out the February 1 rocket attack in northern Iraq.
Kirby credited Iraqis with valuable information that enabled the U.S. to identify the groups responsible for attacks earlier this year. According to him, the US has set the appropriate target for retaliation. He said the US had also notified Russia shortly before the strike as part of the ongoing ban on military activities in Syria.
“The operation sends a clear message: President Biden will take action to protect American and coalition personnel,” Kirby said.
Syria condemned the US strike, calling it “cowardly and systematic US aggression” and warned that the attack would have consequences.
US forces in Iraq have been significantly reduced to 2,500 personnel and no longer take part in combat missions with Iraqi forces in ongoing operations against the Islamic State group.
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