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Status: 02/26/2021 11:39 am
For the first time under the new President Biden, the United States carried out a military attack. Reliable figures on victims in Syria are not yet available. The Pentagon called the attack a “proportionate response.”
US President Joe Biden has ordered an airstrike on Iranian-backed militiamen in Syria. This preceded, among other things, the rocket attacks on US forces in Iraq.
The Pentagon said it was in retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq that killed an employee of a US company and wounded a US soldier and allied forces. It is the first military attack under the new US administration.
Information about victims varies greatly
Reliable information on the number of victims is not yet available. The AP news agency quotes an official belonging to an Iraqi militia backed by Iran: He said that a militia officer was killed in the US airstrike. There were also several injured.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, for its part, speaks of at least 22 dead combatants. Most of them are said to have belonged to Kataib Hezbollah, the Iraqi Hezbollah brigades. The death toll could rise, there are many seriously injured. The attack is said to have taken place at a time when three trucks carrying ammunition for militias fighting in Syria had passed the border between Iraq and Syria.
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), close to the opposition, is based in Great Britain and wants to document human rights violations in Syria. She describes herself as independent. Information from the Observatory cannot be independently verified.
“Unmistakable message”
“This provided military response was carried out in conjunction with diplomatic measures, including consultations with coalition partners,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in announcing the airstrike. The mission sends an unmistakable message: President Biden will act to protect the lives of American employees and employees of the military coalition.
However, at the same time, the approach also aims to reduce the overall situation in eastern Syria and Iraq, Kirby said. The target of the US airstrike was installations in the eastern Syrian city of Bukamal, near the Iraqi border, about 120 kilometers southeast of Deir az-Zor.
Multiple Missile Strikes Against US Targets in Iraq
On Monday, according to the Iraqi army, at least two rockets hit central Baghdad within the extensive fence around the US embassy. The previous Saturday, missiles hit the Balad air force base and injured employees of a US company.
On February 15, an employee of the US-led military coalition was killed in an attack at the Erbil International Airport. Eight civilian employees and one US soldier were injured. Kirby said the investigation into who exactly carried out the attack is still ongoing. A Shiite militia called the Guardian of the Blood Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack.
Biden orders airstrikes on pro-Iranian militias in Syria
Julia Kastein, ARD Washington, February 26, 2021 7:46 am
