The Pentagon on Friday detailed the US firepower used to destroy a complex inside Syria that was allegedly used by an Iranian-backed militia, while the White House defended the legality of the attack against a bipartisan reaction.
“Two F-15E Strike Eagles dropped seven precision-guided munitions, completely destroying nine facilities and partially destroying two, making them functionally destroyed,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news conference.
“The structures were located at the Abu Kemal terrorist entry point, located near the Syrian-Iraq border on the Syrian side. This place is known for facilitating the activity of Iranian allied militia groups ”.
A second facility was due to be hit in President Biden’s first military attack, but that mission was aborted when the drones revealed potential civilian casualties, Fox News reported.
Kirby said the United States government has not yet determined the number of victims caused by the seven 500-pound bombs, but acknowledged local reports of deaths.
Asked what message he intended to send to Iran, Biden, traveling through Texas on Friday, said: “You cannot act with impunity.” He paused and added, “Be careful.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, traveling with Biden to Houston, told reporters aboard Air Force One that Biden had legal authority to order the attack.
Members of both parties in Congress criticized Biden’s decision and noted that in 2017 Psaki criticized then President Donald Trump for bombing Syria.
She tweeted at the time, “what is the legal authority for strikes? … Syria is a sovereign country. “
Psaki told reporters that Biden ordered the strike to send “an unmistakable message that he will act to protect the Americans”.
“As a matter of domestic law, the president took this action according to his Article Two authority to defend US personnel, the targets were chosen to … correspond to recent attacks on facilities and to prevent the risk of further attacks in the coming weeks, ”said Psaki.
“As a matter of international law, the United States has acted in accordance with its right of self-defense, as reflected in Article 50-1 of the UN Charter. The attacks were necessary to face the threat and proportional to previous attacks. “
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that the attack was in retaliation for a February 15 rocket attack on a US military base at Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq, which killed a military contractor and wounded an American soldier.
Under Trump and former President Barack Obama, the US military action in Syria was justified under a 2001 military force authorization against al Qaeda and the 2002 legislation allowing the invasion of Iraq, although opponents have said they disagree that these provisions provide a legal basis.