A US air strike in Syria targeted facilities belonging to a powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group, killing one of its militiamen and wounding several others, an Iraqi militia official said on Friday.
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Joe Biden said on Friday that Iran should see its decision to authorize U.S. air strikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support for militia groups that threaten interests or the US personnel.
“You cannot act with impunity. Be careful, ”said Biden when a reporter asked what message he intended to send with the air strikes, which the Pentagon said destroyed several buildings in eastern Syria, but had no intention of eradicating the militia groups that used them to facilitate attacks inside Iraq.
Government officials defended Thursday night’s air strikes as legal and appropriate, saying they had removed facilities that housed valuable “capabilities” used by Iran-backed militia groups to attack American and allied forces in Iraq.
Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby said members of Congress were notified prior to the attacks when two Air Force F-15E aircraft launched seven missiles, destroying nine facilities and severely damaging two others, making both “functionally destroyed” . He said the facilities, at “entry control points” at the border, were used by militia groups that the US holds responsible for the recent attacks against US interests in Iraq.
In a political upheaval for the new Democratic government, several MPs from Biden’s own party denounced the strikes, which were the first military actions he authorized. Democrats said the air strikes were carried out without authorization from lawmakers, while Republicans supported more.
“Offensive military action without congressional approval is not constitutional, without extraordinary circumstances,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. And Senator Chris Murphy, D-Conn., Said lawmakers should keep the current government to the same standards as any other. “Retaliatory attacks not necessary to avoid an imminent threat,” he said, must obtain authorization from Congress.
But Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, the Republican who graduated from the Senate Armed Services Committee, supported the decision as “the correct and proportionate response to protect American lives”.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Friday that Biden used his constitutional authority to defend US personnel.
“The targets were chosen to correspond to the recent attacks on the facilities and to prevent the risk of further attacks in the coming weeks,” she said.
Among the recent attacks cited was a February 15 rocket attack in northern Iraq that killed a contracted civilian and injured a US military and other coalition troops.
At the Pentagon, Kirby said the operation was “a defensive attack” at a crossing point used by militants to transport weapons and materials for attacks on Iraq. But he noted that while it sent a message of deterrence and eroded its ability to attack that complex, the militias have other locations and capabilities. He said the attacks resulted in “victims” but declined to provide further details about how many were killed or injured and what was inside the buildings, pending the completion of a broader assessment of the damage inflicted.
An Iraqi militia official said on Friday that the attacks killed one fighter and wounded several others.
Kirby said the facilities hit in the attack are close to Boukamal, on the Syrian side of the Iraqi border, along the Euphrates River.
“This place is known for facilitating the activity of militia groups aligned with Iran,” he said. He described the site as a “complex” that had previously been used by the Islamic State group when it dominated the area.
The Iraqi militia official told the Associated Press that the attacks against Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, reached an area along the border between the Syrian site of Boukamal facing Qaim on the Iraqi side. The official was not allowed to speak publicly about the attack and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday night, shortly after the air strikes, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said: “I am confident in the target we are pursuing. We know what we have achieved. ”
Biden’s decision to attack Syria did not appear to signal an intention to expand US military involvement in the region, but rather to demonstrate a willingness to defend American troops in Iraq and send a message to Iran. The Biden government in its early weeks emphasized its intention to put more focus on the challenges posed by China, despite the persistence of threats from the Middle East.
The United States has already targeted facilities in Syria belonging to Kataeb Hezbollah, which it accused of numerous attacks against US officials and interests in Iraq. The Iraqi Kataeb is separated from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British group that monitors the war in Syria, said the attacks targeted a shipment of weapons that were being carried by trucks entering Syrian territories from Iraq. The group said that 22 fighters from the Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi umbrella group made up mainly of Shiite paramilitaries that includes Kataeb Hezbollah, were killed. The report could not be independently verified.
In a statement, the group confirmed that one of its fighters was killed and said it reserved the right to retaliate, without giving further details. Kataeb Hezbollah, like other Iranian-backed factions, maintains fighters in Syria to fight the Islamic State group and help Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces in the civil war in that country.
Austin said he was confident that the United States responded to the “same Shi’ite militants” who carried out the February 5 rocket attack in northern Iraq.
Kirby attributed the Iraqis with providing valuable intelligence that enabled the United States to identify the groups responsible for the attacks earlier this year. The United States, he said, then determined the appropriate target for the retaliatory attack. He said the United States also notified Russia shortly before the attack, as part of the process of deconfiguring military activities in Syria.
“The operation sends an unequivocal message: President Biden will act to protect American and coalition personnel,” said Kirby.
Syria condemned the US attack, calling it “a cowardly and systematic American aggression”, warning that the attack will have consequences.
US forces have been reduced significantly in Iraq to 2,500 military personnel and are no longer engaged in combat missions with Iraqi forces in ongoing operations against the Islamic State group.
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