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“These narrowly tailor-made strikes in self-defense had been supposed solely to guard and defend U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria,” Mr. Austin mentioned. “They’re separate and distinct from the continuing battle between Israel and Hamas, and don’t represent a shift in our strategy to the Israel-Hamas battle.”
He added: “If assaults by Iran’s proxies in opposition to U.S. forces proceed, we won’t hesitate to take additional mandatory measures to guard our folks.”
A senior Protection Division official instructed reporters in a briefing late Thursday that the airstrikes weren’t coordinated with Israel’s navy.
Pentagon officers supplied few particulars concerning the strikes themselves, how a lot injury they brought on and what sort of response they may draw from Iran and its allies. They gave the next account:
Two Air Drive F-16 strike plane primarily based within the area, accompanied by MQ-9 drones, dropped greater than 30 precision-guided bombs on a weapons storage facility and an ammunition storage facility close to Abu Kamal, Syria. Whereas rockets or drones had not been launched from the positioning, officers mentioned munitions saved on the amenities had been used within the current assaults in opposition to U.S. forces.
Pentagon officers mentioned there have been folks on the website throughout the day on Thursday, but it surely was unclear whether or not any Iranian or militia personnel had been injured or killed within the strikes.
As previously, the US opted to strike Iran-backed targets primarily based in jap Syria, not southern Iraq, the place the teams function with vast latitude. Administration officers have urged Iraqi officers to crack down on the teams in that space with little success. Nonetheless, conducting American airstrikes may have a destabilizing impact on the Iraqi authorities, which works carefully with the U.S. authorities.
“The U.S. despatched a message tonight,” Mick Mulroy, a former protection official and retired C.I.A. officer, mentioned in a press release late Thursday. “We are going to immediately reply in opposition to Iran, and particularly the I.R.G.C., in the event that they proceed to assault our navy positions and personnel in Iraq and Syria.”
Mr. Biden, requested on Wednesday about drone strikes in opposition to U.S. navy personnel in Iraq and Syria in current days, mentioned he had warned Iran “that in the event that they proceed to maneuver in opposition to these troops, we are going to reply.”
The predawn U.S. retaliatory strikes on Friday got here simply hours after the Pentagon introduced that 19 U.S. navy members primarily based in Iraq and Syria had suffered traumatic mind accidents after rocket and drone assaults from Iran-backed militants final week.
The Protection Division had beforehand mentioned that 21 service members had suffered minor accidents however returned to responsibility after the assaults on Oct. 17 and 18 at Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq and al-Tanf garrison in southern Syria.
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