U.S. warplanes attack Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria Reuters

Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters)-The United States said on Sunday that it conducted another round of air strikes against Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria, this time in response to drone strikes by militias on American personnel and facilities in Iraq.

The US military said in a statement that its targets are combat and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq. It did not say whether it believed anyone was dead or injured, but officials said an assessment is ongoing.

The Iraqi militia formed an alliance with Iran in a statement that mentioned four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction who said they were killed in an attack on the border between Syria and Iraq. They vowed to retaliate.

The strike was carried out under the direction of President Joe Biden. This is the second time he has ordered retaliatory strikes against Iranian-backed militias since he took office five months ago. The last time Biden ordered a limited strike in Syria was in February in response to a rocket attack in Iraq.

The Pentagon said in a statement: “As the strike tonight has shown, President Biden has made it clear that he will take action to protect American personnel.”

Although the Biden administration is seeking the possibility of resuming the nuclear agreement reached with Iran in 2015, the strike still took place. The decision to retaliate seems to indicate that Biden’s purpose is to separate such defensive strikes while making diplomatic contacts with Tehran.

Biden’s critics say that Iran is not credible, and point out that the drone attack further proves that Iran and its proxies will never accept the U.S. military presence in Iraq or Syria.

Iran calls on the United States to avoid “creating a crisis” in the region.

Said Khatibzad, a spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Monday: “Of course, the United States is undermining the security of the region, and the United States will become one of the victims of this destruction.”

The Iraqi military has rarely condemned the US air strikes, which clearly shows that Baghdad is determined to avoid being involved in the escalation of the US and Iraq. Iraqi and U.S. forces continued to coordinate closely in another battle in Iraq to combat the remnants of the Sunni extremist group ISIS.

Biden and the White House declined to comment on Sunday’s strike. But Biden will meet with Israel’s outgoing President Ruben Rivlin at the White House on Monday for extensive discussions. The discussion will include efforts by Iran and the United States to rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement. These efforts have aroused serious concern from Israel, Iran’s number one enemy.

U.S. officials believe that Iran supports increasingly sophisticated drone attacks and regularly fires rockets at U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq. The U.S. military has been helping Baghdad to combat the remnants of the Islamic State.

Two U.S. officials, who asked not to be named, told Reuters that since April, Iran-backed militias have carried out at least five drone attacks on facilities used by U.S. and coalition personnel in Iraq.

The Pentagon stated that the target facility was used by Iranian-backed militias, including Qataibu Hezbollah and Qataibu Said Shuhada.

A defense official said that one of the target facilities was used to launch and recover drones.

Officials said the U.S. military used F-15 and F-16 aircraft to strike, adding that the pilots completed the mission safely.

“We assess that each strike has reached the predetermined target,” one of the officials told Reuters.

The Iraqi government is struggling to deal with ideologically aligned militias with Iranian militias accused of firing rockets at American troops and participating in the killing of peaceful democracy activists.

In early June, Iraq released Qasim Muslih, the militia commander allied with Iran. He was arrested in May on terrorism-related charges after the authorities found insufficient evidence against him.