US strikes 2 Syrian facilities after attacks by Iran-backed militia

Washington, October 26

The US military carried out strikes against two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and groups it backs, the Pentagon said on Thursday, in response to a spate of attacks against US forces in both Iraq and Syria.

As tensions soar over the Israel-Hamas conflict, US and coalition troops have been attacked at least 19 times in Iraq and in Syria by Iran-backed forces in the past week.

A total of 21 US forces have suffered minor injuries, the vast majority of them traumatic brain injuries.

“These precision self-defence strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17,” US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

The strikes were ordered by President Joe Biden.

“These Iranian-backed attacks against US forces are unacceptable and must stop,” Austin said in the statement.

“If attacks by Iran’s proxies against US forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people.”

The strikes took place at roughly 4.30 am on Friday in Syria (0130 GMT) near Abu Kamal, a Syrian town on the border with Iraq, and were carried out by two F-16 fighter jets using precision munitions, a senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

The targets were weapons and munitions storage facilities, the official added, speaking late on Thursday to reporters in Washington.