The US military flew air strikes in the Iraqi-Syrian border region on several targets that were used by pro-Iranian militias, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced on Sunday evening (local time) in Washington.
From these facilities, Iranian-backed militias launched drone attacks on US personnel and facilities in Iraq. There are two targets in Syria and one in Iraq. Weapons were stored there, among other things. The Pentagon spoke of a necessary and appropriate defensive strike.
At least five militia fighters killed
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least five fighters from pro-Iranian militias were killed in an attack by US fighter jets in eastern Syria. Several more were injured. The US air strikes were therefore directed, among other things, against the military positions of the militias. The UK-based observatory draws its information from a network of local informants. The information provided by the organization can often hardly be verified independently.
Kirby said the background was the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups against US targets in Iraq. The US president ordered military action to stop further such attacks. The US acted in accordance with its right to self-defense.
With this attack, Biden had shown that he was acting to protect US forces, the Pentagon spokesman said. The air strikes are both “necessary to counter the threat” and “appropriate in scope”. The procedure is designed in such a way that it limits the risk of escalation, but at the same time clearly and unmistakably sends a “deterrent message”.
Air strikes at the end of February
The US military had already launched air strikes in the east of the civil war country Syria at the end of February – numerous supporters of pro-Iranian militias were killed in the process. It was the first military strike since Biden took office. The US Department of Defense had also rated this as a pure “defensive strike” – as a “proportionate” reaction to previous attacks against US soldiers and their international partners in Iraq.
A civilian contractor belonging to the international military coalition had been killed in a missile attack on the northern Iraqi city of Erbil in February. Several people were injured. In the past few months there had been further attacks in which rockets were fired at bases in Iraq used by the US Army.
Militias with close ties to Iran have long been suspected. They are demanding the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq, which are supporting the Iraqi army in the fight against the terrorist militia Islamic State (IS). Iraq, but also Syria, have developed into the arenas of the conflict between the USA and Iran.
Trump dropped out of agreement
The US air strikes come at a time when international negotiations are underway over a possible US return to the nuclear deal with Iran. The agreement was concluded in 2015 between Iran and the USA, Germany, France, Great Britain, Russia and China. Under Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump, the United States unilaterally withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and imposed massive sanctions on Iran. In return, Iran gradually no longer adhered to its obligations.
Talks have been going on in Vienna for several weeks about a return of both countries to the requirements of the nuclear deal. Both Tehran and Washington had recently spoken of progress in the negotiations. However, US negotiators emphasized that there were still “serious differences” and that no agreements had yet been made: “Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.”
