US forces carried out air and drone strikes on dozens of bases used by Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria on Friday.
“Today, at my direction, U.S. military forces struck targets in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack U.S. forces.
We do not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But to all those who seek to do us harm: We will respond.”
US President Joe Biden stated on X.
“At 4:00 p.m. (EST) Feb. 02, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups. U.S. military forces struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from the United States. The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions.” The US Central Command wrote about the attack.
According to the CENTCOM, the targets identified include militia groups and their supporters, command and control centers of insurgencies, intelligence centers, rockets, missiles, storage facilities for unmanned aerial vehicles, and installations used for supplying weapons to militia groups.
Joe Biden made it clear in a statement that more will be attacks be taken place in the coming days.
These attacks were carried out in response to a drone attack by a military group supported by Iran on an American military installation in Jordan, “Tower-22”, in which three American soldiers were killed and around 40 were injured. After this attack, the militant group announced that it would not attack any American facility in Iraq in the future.
After the attack on the US military installation, some top US political figures called for a direct attack on Iran. However, President Joe Biden decided to target Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria.
Top US officials, including President Joe Biden and the defense secretary, had been warning for days that the US would retaliate against the militias, And they made it clear that this would not be just one attack, but a series of long-term operations.
Seeing the situation, the high-ranking officers of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards left the areas of Iraq and Syria and returned to Iran.
Now, according to sources, Aircraft and UAVs took part in the US strikes on Friday, and the initial operation targeted command and control headquarters, ammunition depots and other facilities of the militant groups.