U.S. to strike Iranian targets in Syria, Iraq
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – U.S. administration has approved for strikes against Iranian targets in both Syria and Iraq in response to drone attacks that targeted U.S. forces in Jordan, U.S. officials told CBS News on Thursday.
The officials confirmed that plans have been approved for a series of strikes over a number of days against targets – including Iranian personnel and facilities – inside Syria and Iraq.
The strikes will come in response to drone and rocket attacks that targeted the U.S. Tower 22 base inside Jordan near the Syrian border late in January and killed three U.S. service members and injured 40 others.
In the same context, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that his country would not tolerate attacks on American troops.
“This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East,” Austin told reporters, “We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region.”
Since the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, American bases in Syria and Iraq have been targeted by Iran-backed militias, and almost all of these attacks have been claimed by the so-called Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militia.
In January, an American official, who refused to be named, told ABC News that the U.S. strikes in retaliation to the attack that killed American troops in Jordan would likely focus on Iranian positions inside Syria.
He added that Iranian assets outside of Iran could be targets, with most strikes inside Syria.
Late in January, the Islamic Resistance announced, in a statement, the suspension of its military and security operations against U.S. forces as a means to avoid consequences on the Iraqi government. Since then, there have been no new attacks on U.S. bases in the region.
Austin reacted to the group’s statement during Thursday’s news conference, “We always listen to what people are saying, but we watch what they do, and … actions are everything, so we’ll see what happens in the future,” he said.
Austin told reporters the U.S. was trying to “hold the right people accountable” without escalating the conflict in the region.
“We will have a multitiered response, and … we have the ability to respond a number of times depending on what the situation is,” the U.S. Defense Secretary confirmed.