Following an incident in Jordan last weekend that claimed the lives of three U.S. servicemen, the U.S. military retaliated on Friday by initiating airstrikes in Iraq and Syria targeting over 85 sites associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and the militias it supports.
President Joe Biden’s government responded to the attack by Iran-backed terrorists with a multi-tiered strategy that included the employment of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States. More U.S. military actions are anticipated in the next several days.
The U.S. attacks indicate a further escalation of the Middle East conflict from Israel’s more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas terrorists in Gaza, even if they did not target locations within Iran.
The strikes, according to a statement from the US military, targeted command and control centres, logistics and munition supply chain facilities, as well as locations that housed drones, rockets, and missiles.
According to the military, US forces struck over 85 targets in seven different locations—four in Syria and three in Iraq.
The Quds Force, the IRGC’s paramilitary and international spy branch that greatly impacts its affiliated forces throughout the Middle East, from Yemen to Syria and Lebanon to Iraq, was the focus of the strikes.
Although it was unclear whether any militants were killed, U.S. Lieutenant General Douglas Sims, the head of the Joint Staff, stated that the assaults seemed to be effective and that there were significant secondary explosions when the bombs struck terrorist weapons.
Sims clarified, however, that the strikes were carried out with knowledge that there would probably be casualties among people within the facility.
He said that a major determinant in the operation’s timing was the weather.
Syria’s official media said on Friday that several people were killed and injured as a consequence of “American aggression” in locations in the desert regions and along the border with Iraq.
The attacks, according to the Iraqi military, occurred near the country’s border and they could bring about unrest in the area.
Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement, “These airstrikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, and pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences.”
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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