US military says it struck ‘more than 85 targets’
US Central Command has said its forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups.
The airstrikes were carried out at 4pm eastern time on Friday, it said.
It said US military forces struck more than 85 targets including “command and control operations, centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aired vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities” belonging to militia groups and their IRGC sponsors.
CENTCOM Statement on U.S. Stikes in Iraq and Syria
At 4:00 p.m. (EST) Feb. 02, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. U.S. military forces… pic.twitter.com/q9gFDxppmo
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 2, 2024
Key events
Six killed and four injured in airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria – report
Six Iranian-backed militia members have been killed and four others injured as a result of airstrikes on Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
At least three of those killed were of non-Syrian nationality, the group said.
Biden: US response to drone attack to continue ‘at times and places of our choosing’
The White House has released a statement from Joe Biden following the news that the US launched airstrikes against targets in Syria and Iraq in response to Sunday’s drone attack on a US military base that killed three soldiers.
The statement reads:
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.
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.
Just minutes before the first reports on the strikes, Joe Biden attended a solemn ritual at Dover air force base in Delaware for the return of the remains of the three fallen US troops killed in last weekend’s drone attack in Jordan.
The US president and the first lady, Jill Biden, joined grieving families as they honored the three American service members killed: Sgt William Jerome Rivers of Carrollton, Sgt Kennedy Sanders of Waycross and Sgt Breonna Moffett of Savannah.
“They risked it all,” Biden said on Thursday. He did not speak at Friday’s event.
The defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, and Gen CQ Brown, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, also attended.
Syrian state media is reporting that an “American aggression“ on sites in the country’s desert areas and the Syrian and Iraqi border have resulted in a number of casualties and injuries.
US military says it struck ‘more than 85 targets’
US Central Command has said its forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups.
The airstrikes were carried out at 4pm eastern time on Friday, it said.
It said US military forces struck more than 85 targets including “command and control operations, centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aired vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities” belonging to militia groups and their IRGC sponsors.
CENTCOM Statement on U.S. Stikes in Iraq and Syria
At 4:00 p.m. (EST) Feb. 02, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. U.S. military forces… pic.twitter.com/q9gFDxppmo
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) February 2, 2024
US warned it would carry out ‘multi-tier response’ to Jordan attack
The US had warned it will carry out a series of reprisal strikes launched over more than one day in response to the drone strike over the weekend.
The US defense secretary, Lloyd Austin, did not specify the timing or precise location of strikes during Pentagon press conference on Thursday, but said:
We will have a multi-tier response and we have the ability to respond a number of times depending on the situation … We look to hold the people responsible for this accountable and we also seek to take away capability as we go forward.
Austin insisted that a lot of thought in Washington had gone into ensuring that the US response did not trigger a major escalation.
The secretary of defense stressed the US was not at war with Iran and Washington did not know if Tehran was aware of the specific drone strikes on Sunday mounted by what he described as the axis of resistance.
Three rounds of airstrikes targeted Iranian militia positions in parts of Deir ez-Zor in eastern Syria, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
There have been casualties as a result, NBC reported that the organisation said.
US launched strikes on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria, say officials
The US launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias, in an opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US service members in Jordan last weekend, officials have told Associated Press.
The initial strikes by manned and unmanned aircraft were hitting command and control headquarters, ammunition storage and other facilities, according to AP.
US officials have told Reuters that the strikes targeted facilities linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and the militias it backs.
US begins to launch strikes in response to Jordan drone attack
The US has begun a wave of retaliatory airstrikes targeting militants in Iraq and Syria, according to reports, in response to a drone attack in northern Jordan which killed three American service personnel and wounded dozens more.
The strikes, reported by Associated Press and Reuters, come as Joe Biden joined grieving families at Dover air force base in Delaware on Friday as they honored the three US military personnel killed in the drone attack in Jordan last weekend.
The attack on Tower 22 was the first deadly strike against US troops since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October.
Responsibility was claimed by the Iranian-backed umbrella group Islamic Resistance, and the US has made no attempt to disguise its belief that Iran was ultimately responsible. Tehran has insisted it had nothing to do with the attack.
Biden told reporters earlier this week that he held Iran responsible “in the sense that they’re supplying the weapons” to Kataib Hezbollah, the most powerful member of the Islamic Resistance group. However, the president added:
I don’t think we need a wider war in the Middle East. That’s not what I’m looking for.
Reporter: “Have you made a decision about how to respond to the attack [on U.S. service members in Jordan]?”
President Biden: “Yes.” pic.twitter.com/jeuWujvPAR
— The Recount (@therecount) January 30, 2024
