The United States has confirmed that it has launched attacks on pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the attack on the US military's "Tower 22" base in Jordan!
In the early morning of February 3, Russia's TASS news agency reported that the U.S. Central Command announced that the U.S. military suddenly launched heavy airstrikes on Iraq and Syria, destroying 85 important targets, which, according to two U.S. defense officials, were spread across seven locations — and the U.S. military's undeclared war was unexpected and justified because the airstrikes were in response to attacks on U.S. forces in Jordan.
The airstrikes took place at 00:00 Moscow time on February 3 and were primarily targeted by special forces of the Quds Force, an elite unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, in Syria and Iraq. The American Fox News network quoted an unnamed Defense Department official as saying that the attack was launched from multiple platforms. "Many military aircraft" of the U.S. military participated in the bombing campaign, including B1 long-range bombers, which fired more than 125 precision-guided missiles and bombs, destroying targets including command and control stations, intelligence centers and warehouses equipped with drones.
After the airstrike, US President Joe Biden issued a statement saying that the airstrike was carried out under his authorization and direction, and that the response of the US military, which began today and will continue at the right time and place. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also said that the airstrikes against Iraq and Syria were "the beginning of our response, and the president has directed more action to hold them accountable for attacks on U.S. and coalition forces." "
Last Sunday, a large drone attacked the U.S. base in Jordan's Tower 22, killing three U.S. service members and injuring more than 40 other U.S. troops. This is the first time since the outbreak of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on October 7 that US troops have been killed in the Middle East as a result of an attack. For days, President Biden and other top U.S. figures have been saying that the U.S. will launch a retaliatory strike, and that it will not be just a single blow, but a "layered response."
On February 3, Sky News reported that the targets of the US airstrikes were mainly focused on Iranian militia positions in Mayadin Village, Deir ez-Zor Province in eastern Syria. According to Rami Abdul Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, "the attack on the eastern part of Syria has been going on for a quarter of an hour".
Another Sky News report revealed that U.S. warplanes also carried out airstrikes in the area of the city of Qayim on the Syrian border, with the command of pro-Iranian militant groups, located between the towns of Rutba and Qayim, as well as the headquarters and armored battalion of the 13th Tafuf Brigade targeted. Syrian media revealed that "large-scale US air strikes" targeted the Syrian desert region and several locations along the border with Iraq, causing a large number of casualties.
On February 3, the Alrabiya website reported that the U.S. military announced airstrikes on Iraq and Syria, targeting Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and its allied armed groups, and so far at least six pro-Iranian militants have been killed and four others injured in the "U.S. attack on eastern Syria." Meanwhile, an Iraqi security source said eight airstrikes targeted the headquarters of armed factions in the city of Qaim, on the border with Syria, and the number of dead and wounded is still being counted.
It is worth noting that although the United States has repeatedly accused Iran of being behind the attack on Tower 22, the airstrike was not directly aimed at Iran or the senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran. But on the same day as the strikes, the United States announced new sanctions on an Iranian company and six Iranian officials accused of assisting Iran in procuring technology to make ballistic weapons and drones.
Since October, Iranian-backed militia groups have launched 166 attacks on U.S. military bases in the Middle East: 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and 1 in Jordan, injuring more than 120 U.S. servicemen. The US military has carried out several strikes against militant groups in Iraq and Syria, but has not succeeded in stopping the attacks of militants.
CNN reported that the massive U.S. airstrikes on 85 targets in Iraq and Syria could just be the beginning of a series of large-scale U.S. airstrikes against Iranian-backed militias.
With the US military's undeclared war this time, the situation in the Middle East will become more complicated and more smoky!