“Up to a handful” of militants have been killed in the strikes, a US official told CNN. The site was not specifically linked to the rocket attacks, but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was “confident” that it was being used by the same Iranian-backed Shi militias on US and coalition forces in Iraq with rocket attacks.
According to a US official, the premises were allegedly used as part of an arms smuggling operation by the Iranian militias. The site was used by Iraqi Hezbollah militias near the town of Al-Hurri, right on the Syrian-Iraqi border within Syria, a resident of the city of Albu Kamal told CNN for security reasons under anonymity.
The government claimed that the strike was supported by Article II of the Constitution, as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the strikes were “led by President Biden” and were authorized not only to respond to recent attacks on US and coalition forces, but also to “ongoing threats to those staff”. to handle.
House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff said the Biden administration’s congressional notice on the military strikes in Syria was “inadequate” and he was further investigating the legal justification behind the military action.
“This makes President Biden the seventh consecutive U.S. president to order strikes in the Middle East,” the Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna, California, said. “There is absolutely no justification for a president to authorize a military strike that is not in self-defense against an impending threat without the authority of Congress.”
Republicans largely praised Biden for the strike against the militias supported by Iran.
Texas Representative Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US response was a “necessary deterrent” that reminds Iran and its conclusions that attacks on US interests “will not be tolerated. . “