The United States launched air strikes in Iraq and Syria against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and militias it backs, reportedly killing nearly 40 people, in retaliation for a deadly attack on U.S. troops.
The strikes, which included the use of long-range B-1 bombers flown from the U.S., were the first in response to the attack last weekend in Jordan by Iran-backed militants, and more U.S. military operations are expected in the coming days.
The strikes intensified a conflict that has spread into the region since war erupted between Israel and Hamas after the militant group’s deadly assault on Israel on October 7.
In Syria, the strikes killed 23 people who had been guarding the targeted locations, said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
In Iraq, residents said several strikes hit the Sikak neighbourhood in Al-Qaim, a residential area that locals said was also used by armed groups to store weapons. Militants had left the area and gone into hiding in the days since the Jordan attack, local sources said.
Iran called the attack a strategic mistake by the U.S. while Iraq summoned the U.S. envoy in Baghdad.
U.S. Lieutenant-General Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Staff, said the attacks appeared to be successful, triggering large secondary explosions as the bombs hit militant weaponry. He said the strikes were undertaken knowing that there would likely be casualties among those in the facilities.
Despite the strikes, the Pentagon has said it does not want war with Iran and does not believe Tehran wants war either, even as Republican pressure has increased on U.S. President Joe Biden to deal a blow directly.
Iran, which backs Hamas, has sought to stay out of the regional conflict itself even as it backs groups that have entered the fray from Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and Syria - the so-called “Axis of Resistance” that is hostile to Israel and U.S. interests.
U.S. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the strikes that Biden had directed additional action against the IRGC and those linked to it. “This is the start of our response,” Mr. Austin said.
