
Militias linked to the Islamic Republic of Iran launched a fresh round of attacks on U.S. forces stationed in the Middle East following a series of retaliatory American airstrikes last week. The latest action came as Republican members of Congress criticized the Biden administration for what they call a weak policy toward Tehran.
Militant groups launched a series of attacks on American bases in Syria and Iraq since Friday. In one of the recent attacks, militias fired two rockets at an American base in Syria that is supporting operations against ISIS. In another, a drone landed near but not in another base used by American forces.
One of the recent attacks on American forces led to the death of six fighters working with the U.S. military.
There have been more than 150 attacks on American servicemembers in the region since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, including the attack on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three soldiers.
Following the airstrikes on 85 sites used by militias allied to Iran, the Pentagon said that there are no current plans for a longer bombing campaign against the group.
Senior U.S. Defense Officials stated today that there is currently No Plan for a Sustained Large-Scale Campaign against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) or Iranian-Backed Groups in Iraq and Syria, but that they are in the process of Planning additional Retaliation… pic.twitter.com/awsD3hHtQr
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 6, 2024
During a press conference earlier this week, the Pentagon brushed off speculation that the United States should sink an Iranian vessel in the Red Sea that Washington believes is feeding intelligence to Houthi rebels in Yemen to attack civilian and military vessels. Despite this, the military has no current plans to sink the Behshad.
Following the U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria, a number of Republicans in Congress said that they did not go far enough.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) told Fox News on Friday that while there was “tactical success” in the strikes, he had questions regarding “whether this will be a strategic success by which I would set the standard for whether these attacks on Americans and international shipping stops.”
“I have serious reservations about whether it will be a strategic success for numerous reasons. Just simply put one example. We let Iran’s leaders hightail it back to Iran from Syria and Iraq. So, I suspect we did not kill many key Iranian leaders in these regions,” he said.