U.S. Observations of the Iraq-Syria Crisis: Iran-Backled Interactions with the Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Pentagon said Friday that the U.S. launched strikes on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, in response to a series of attacks against U.S. bases in the region.
Mr. Kirby told reporters on Friday that the purpose “was to have a significant impact on future I.R.G.C., Iran-backed militia group operations,” and that the strikes were aimed “at storage facilities and ammo depots that we know will be used to support the work of these militia groups.”
Mr. Austin said the United States did not desire to engage in further hostilities and that these Iranian-backed attacks on U.S. forces were unacceptable and must stop.
Since Hamas’s surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, President Biden and his aides have sought to contain the war between Israel and Hamas, and prevent it from spilling over into a regional conflict with Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, has beefed up air defenses in the region to protect U.S. forces. The U.S. has said it is sending multiple batteries of Patriot missile systems, a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery and more fighter jets.
The Pentagon says there have been at least 19 attacks on US bases and personnel in Iraq and Syria since October 17. Air Force Brig. 21 U.S. personnel were injured in two assaults using drones to target al-Asad Air base in Iraq and the al-Tanf Garrison in Syria.
The Pentagon and White House Will Respond if Tehran Persistently Attempts to Move Towards a New War in the Middle East
“We will respond” if Tehran persists in moving against U.S. forces in the Middle East, according to Biden.
The predawn U.S. retaliatory strikes on Friday came just hours after the Pentagon announced that 19 U.S. military members based in Iraq and Syria have suffered traumatic brain injuries after rocket and drone attacks from Iran-backed militants last week.
The Defense Department had previously said that 21 service members had suffered minor injuries but returned to duty after the attacks on Oct. 17 and 18 at Al Asad Air Base in western Iraq and al-Tanf garrison in southern Syria.
Since Oct. 17, Iran-backed militia have carried out at least 12 rocket or one-way attack drone strikes against U.S. troops in Iraq and at least four attacks in Syria, Brig. The Pentagon spokesman said on Thursday that he was Gen. Patrick S. Ryder. There are 2,500 troops in Iraq and 900 in Syria, mainly helping local allies conduct counterterrorism missions against the Islamic State.
In March, U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that a self-destructing drone of “Iranian origin” killed a U.S. contractor and injured another contractor and five U.S. service members in an attack on a maintenance facility on a coalition base in northeast Syria.
There are times when members will report ringing in the ears, headaches, and other symptoms of traumatic brain injury several days after an attack.
The strikes came as no surprise. The Pentagon and White House have made it known for the past week that the U.S. will respond at any time and location it chooses, with officials saying Thursday that it would be at the time and place of their choosing.
If Iranian proxies attack American forces it will cause the United States to escalate its military confrontation with Iran, which it has avoided since the Iranian revolution in 1979.
And the second was that if the attacks stop, both sides could quietly back away, free to resume the simmering hostilities that have characterized the relationship in recent years.
It is the latest gamble by the United States to modify Iran’s behavior, few of which have worked in the past. With a new war in the Middle East, President Biden is signaling that the best bet for Tehran would be to stay out of it. The goal of the White House is to deter and prevent future attacks.
The drones were launched later on Friday at the US forces in western Iraq, but there were no injuries or damage on the ground.
According to U.S. officials, the Iranians wanted to remind the Americans that their power was still there and to get them to rein in Israel.
The U.S. response, officials said, was calibrated to demonstrate strength, but not escalate the situation or give hard-liners an excuse to press Ayatollah Khamenei to lend his support for a wider regional war, led by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Whether such finely tuned messages are received as intended, though, is far from clear. Past attempts to try to control Iran’s behavior have fallen flat.
The international nuclear inspectors said that Mr. Biden tried to restore the nuclear deal, but that it was undone by Mr. Trump. After 18 months of negotiations, the final deal seemed close until the Iranians came up with new demands.
Similarly, many of the roughly 1,500 American and Western economic sanctions on Iran were intended to halt its support of Hamas and Hezbollah, the powerful militia in Lebanon. But both Democratic and Republican presidents have discovered that the strategy has simply not worked. And in recent times, Iran has been selling roughly 1.5 million barrels of oil each day, a four-year high, with the vast majority of those shipments going to China.
The strike response by the U.S. would be tied to the attacks on the troops and not connected to the war between Israel and Hamas, said the US, including the Pentagon. After attacks on U.S. bases in Syria, the Iranians retaliated with strikes against their targets in Syria.
The latest spate of strikes by the Iranian-linked groups came in the wake of a deadly explosion at a Gaza hospital, triggering protests in a number of Muslim nations. The Israeli military has relentlessly attacked Gaza in retaliation for the devastating Hamas rampage in southern Israel nearly three weeks ago, but Israel has denied responsibility for the al-Ahli hospital blast and the U.S. has said its intelligence assessment found that Tel Aviv was not to blame.
The Mission to the Middle East – U.S. Command Center for Counterattacks on the Iraq Commando General Relativity
He told reporters during a Pentagon briefing that he knew that they would take all necessary measures to protect their forces and interests overseas.
All the U.S. personnel hurt in the militant attacks got minor injuries and returned to work. A contractor died after having a cardiac arrest and was trying to hide from a potential drone attack.
The sites were selected because the IRGC stores the types of bombs used during the strikes against U.S. bases, said a senior defense official. The two officials briefed reporters on condition of anonymity because the mission hadn’t been made public.
According to the senior U.S. military official, the precision strikes were carried out by the two F16 fighter jets of the U.S. Air Force and they hit the weapons and storage areas connected to the IRGC. The official said there had been Iranian-aligned militia and IRGC personnel on the base and no civilians, but the U.S. does not have any information yet on casualties or an assessment of damage. The official wouldn’t say how many bombs were launched.
The THAAD is being sent from Fort Bliss, Texas, and the Patriot batteries are from Fort Liberty in North Carolina and Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Fort Liberty is sending an Avenger air defense system.
Officials have said as much as two battalions of Patriots are being deployed. A battalion can include at least three Patriot batteries, which each have six to eight launchers.
Ryder said Thursday that about 900 troops have deployed or are in the process of going to the Middle East region, including those associated with the air defense systems.