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The US military launched an attack on facilities in eastern Syria used by Iranian-backed militias on Thursday in retaliation for recent rocket attacks on US troop locations in Iraq, the Pentagon said.
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“Under the leadership of President (Joe) Biden, US military forces carried out air strikes earlier tonight against infrastructure used by Iranian-backed militia groups in eastern Syria,” spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
“These attacks were authorized in response to recent attacks on US and Coalition personnel in Iraq, and the continuous threats to that staff“, He said.
The US military did not report whether there were casualties in the offensive. Kirby said the target was a border checkpoint used by Iranian-backed Iraqi armed groups, including Kataeb Hezbollah and Kataeb Sayyid al-Shuhada.
The attack came after three rocket attacks on facilities in Iraq that are used by US and coalition forces fighting the Islamic State group.
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Hezbollah: The ‘Party of God’ is a Lebanese Shiite Muslim Islamic organization that has a political and a paramilitary arm.
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One such attack, on a military compound in Arbil, the capital of the Kurdish region, on February 15, killed a civilian and a foreign contractor working with coalition forces, injuring several American contractors and a soldier.
The attacks in Iraq carried out by groups suspected of operating under the leadership of Iran posed a challenge to the new administration of
Biden, at a time that opens the door to resuming negotiations with Tehran on its nuclear program.
‘The operation sends an unequivocal message: President Biden will act to protect American and Coalition personnel’
The US administration says it wants to revive the 2015 deal, which former President Donald Trump left in 2018, and that it aims to freeze Iran’s nuclear aspirations. But Washington also views Tehran as an ongoing security threat in the Middle East..
Kirby called Thursday’s attacks “proportionate” and said they “were carried out in conjunction with diplomatic measures,” including consultation with US partners in the anti-IS coalition. But he also said it was designed to reduce tension in eastern Syria and Iraq..
“The operation sends an unequivocal message: President Biden will act to protect American and Coalition personnel,” he said.
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AFP
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