US F-16 fighter jets struck two targets of Iranian-backed militant groups in Syria.
US F-16 fighter jets strike two targets in Syria linked to Iran-backed militant groups, country’s defense minister Lloyd Austin tells the media.
The attacks targeted the weapons and ammunition warehouses of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and their affiliated militants in Abu Kamal, near the border between Syria and Iraq. The attacks were carried out with precision weapons of F-16 fighters.
According to the US, there had been people belonging to militant groups in the ammunition depots on the day of the attack, but so far it is unclear whether anyone was injured in the attacks. Reported about it including CNN.
Defense Secretary Austin characterized the president Joe Biden ordered strikes in self-defense. According to Austin, the attacks are not related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
US troops stationed in the Middle East have now been struck a total of 19 times since October 17th. 21 US soldiers have been slightly wounded in the attacks by airplanes and rockets.
Various militant groups, many of which are connected to Iran, have been behind the attacks in Iraq and Syria.
– Iran is trying to hide its hands and deny its role in the attacks against our forces. We won’t let them do this, Austin commented.
According to the Minister of Defense, the United States will carry out more attacks if the attacks of “Iranian proxies” against Americans continue. Earlier on Thursday, the United States announced that it would send 900 more troops to the Middle East, in addition to the naval support ships already in the eastern Mediterranean.
Israel and Gaza in the background
The United States and Iran are old enemies, whose bad relations have been further inflamed by the confrontation between Israel and Hamas in Israel and Gaza. The United States is Israel’s old ally, while Iran supports Hamas.
“The United States will not be spared from this fire” unless the war in Gaza ends, Iran’s foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said Thursday at the UN.
The United States has signaled to Iran that the country does not want the Israel-Hamas conflict to spread in the region, and that Iran and its allies should “restrain their actions.”
According to President Biden, the United States has soldiers in Syria and Iraq to oppose the extremist Islamic terrorist organization Isis, and the troops are not involved in the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Source: Reuters