Retaliation for a drone strike that killed three US soldiers in Jordan last weekend has begun, with the US military launching major airstrikes against 85 targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday.
The White House declared the operation, which lasted about 30 minutes, a success, but few details were immediately available about the damage and deaths or injuries on the ground. Casualties were expected, a Pentagon official said.
US officials say the strikes hit four facilities in Syria and three in Iraq, where security officials reported damage in the city of Al-Qaim. The sites allegedly belonged to several Iranian-backed militias, which the United States blames for the attack in Jordan.
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The attacks were retaliation and came with a warning: The deadly drone attack in Jordan was just the latest in a series of more than 165 attacks on US forces in the Middle East by various Iranian proxy groups since the outbreak of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
US President Joe Biden said the attacks show his administration will not tolerate harm to Americans. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin vowed that the attack was just “the beginning of our response.” Both men said U.S. retaliation will continue “at times and places of our choosing.”
Biden seeks a delicate balance: The US government is threading a needle: it wants to deter further attacks on its troops while avoiding a full-scale conflict with Iran.
The attack in Jordan came after weeks of efforts by the United States and regional leaders to prevent a broader war in the Middle East, even as conflicts involving Tehran's proxies, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and rebels, spread. Houthis in Yemen.
B-1 bombers played a key role in the attack: Air Force B-1 bombers were among the US aircraft that carried out the strikes, a defense official told CNN. The B-1 is a long-range heavy bomber that can deploy precision and non-precision weapons.
Bomber crews flew to the region from the United States on a single nonstop flight, according to Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims. The Army is confident that it “achieved exactly what we intended to achieve,” Sims said, crediting the precision of the B-1 crews.
The United States alerted Iraq, but not Iran: National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States informed the Iraqi government of its plans before carrying out the attacks. However, he said there had been no communications (through back channels or otherwise) with Iran since the attack on Jordan.
The United States does not plan to attack inside Iran: A senior Biden administration official told CNN that the United States will not strike inside Iran, focusing only on targets outside the country. Attacking inside Iran would have been a huge escalation, and officials have telegraphed that it is unlikely to happen.
