The US bombs Syria, for nth time
Again against Iran
The US struck pro Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria on Friday, February 3rd. Those strikes were in response to the deadly attack in Jordan days earlier. They hit 85 targets, and killing allegedly 13 fighters , and injuring 25 . Among those, there were command and control centers, intelligence facilities, fuel storage sites, and weapons storage sites, supply chains. The strikes came as the remains of the soldiers killed in Jordan, William Rivers, Kennedy Sanders, and Breonna Moffet were repatriated.
Strikes in Syria. Source: Eurasia & Multipolarity
US President Joe Biden mentioned this was the first move in more retaliatory actions against Iranian-linked targets for the drone strike in the US base in Jordan on January 29th. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Shia militias in Iraq, claimed responsibility for it. The attack on the Tower 22 base in Jordan, near the borders with Syria and Iraq, killed 3 US soldiers and wounded 40 more others.
“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing”.
The US has mentioned however it is not seeking a wider conflict in the Middle East. Lloyd Austin has also said it is the beginning of the response. According to the Department of Defense, the facilities were selected to avoid civilian casualties and if they were connected to attacks on US forces.
“The President has directed additional actions to hold IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on US and Coalition Forces”,
the Defense Secretary mentioned.
Source: DD Geopolitics
Iranian backed groups have conducted attacks against US forces since the Israel-Gaza war began on October 7th. Biden himself has confirmed that the aims of these attacks are for deterring Iran and degrading Iranian capabilities.
These attacks come as US Republicans accuse Joe Biden of having a weak foreign policy. They claim that the US strikes should have come earlier, with some mentioning that they should have occurred the same day of the attack.
Three days later US forces were attacked three more times. All those attacks were launched in Syria. There were casualties from the Syrian Democratic Forces.
Source: Entre Guerras
The militias continued to attack US forces after February the 3rd, so there is no reason to believe these will cease. Iran has already threatened to retaliate at the UN. However, it is possible that not all militias will participate in these attacks, since some of them have announced a truce. Also, since Biden has said the US attacks will continue, these strikes are expected to do so. However, these will be as limited as possible because the US does not aim for a wider conflict with Iran. Cyberwarfare is included in the possible forms of retaliation.
It is also to be seen how will this affect the relations with Iraq, since the US claims the Iraqi government was warned prior to the attacks. Despite this, the Iraqi government claims this was a violation of sovereignty.
Possibly, the Republicans will continue to criticize Biden for what they call a weak foreign policy. This could pressure Biden to escalate, despite his policy.
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