SRINAGAR: In a new escalation of the ongoing Israel-Gaza war, the United States bombed as many as 85 targets including four in Syria and three in Iraq. The spots are said to be bases of militias’ supported or linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).
“While the U.S. strikes did not target sites inside Iran, they signal a further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East from Israel’s more than three-month-old war with Palestinian Hamas militants in Gaza,” global news gatherer Reuters reported.
The targets were Washington’s first response to the last week’s attack in which US lost three of its services personnel. The Jordan attack, hitting Tower 22, an US army outpost, in which a drone was used left 40 personnel injured. Reports said the US troops were attacked 166 times including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan since the Israel-Gaza conflict started in early October 2023.
Top US army officers said the “attacks appeared to be successful” but there was no detail of any casualty. They said it was just the beginning and they will continue striking “at times and places of our choosing”.
“These airstrikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, and pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences,” Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool has said in a statement.
“The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.” He added: “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”
Media reported that US Central Command said the strikes used more than 125 precision munitions, and they were delivered by numerous aircraft, including long-range B-1 bombers flown from the United States.
“The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said at least 18 pro-Iranian fighters were killed in the strikes in eastern Syria,” global news agency AFP reported. “Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said that at least 26 major sites housing pro-Iranian group were destroyed, including weapons depots.”
Commentators believe that this escalation could go further. On Friday morning, Iran President Ebrahim Raisi reiterated that Tehran will retaliate for any US strikes targeting its interests. We “will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response,” Raisi said.
The Israel-Gaza war is raging. Apart from 1200 Israel nationals, more than 27,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed.
These overnight strikes were in addition to the US offensive against Yemen’s Houthi military targets. “Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said that British and American forces conducted three strikes in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a Houthi stronghold,” US news gatherer, AP said.
The attack in Jordan has been a major one. Tower 22, as the outpost is called, houses about 350 US troops and is located near the demilitarized zone on the border between Jordan and Syria. The Iraqi border is barely 10 kilometers away.
