American-led airstrikes hit more than 80 different targets in Iraq and Syria Friday in retaliation for the drone attack last week that killed three American servicemembers in Jordan. The attacks appeared to have killed more than a dozen militia members. However, following the strikes, there have been a number of fresh attacks on U.S. forces in the region.
In total, American warplanes struck 85 targets operated by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards or related militias.
Following the strikes, an Iranian spokesperson said that the attacks were “another adventurous and strategic mistake by the United States that will result only in increased tension in instability in the region.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that the airstrikes were just the beginning of the American response.
Austin said that President Joe Biden had “directed additional actions” against Iran and “affiliated militias.”
F-16 “Fighting Falcons” with the Royal Jordanian Air Force are reported to have Participated in tonight’s U.S-Led Airstrikes against the IRGC and Iranian-Backed Groups in Iraq and Syria, likely a Response to the Drone Attack which took place against a U.S. Base on Jordanian… pic.twitter.com/qM97SHV0VD
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) February 2, 2024
“These will unfold at times and places of our choosing. We do not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else, but the President and I will not tolerate attacks on American forces,” he said. “We will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our forces and our interests.”
The drone attack last week struck American forces stationed in Jordan in an anti-ISIS mission along the Syrian border. The attack resulted in the first direct American deaths in almost four months of rocket and drone attacks on U.S. bases in the region.
There have been almost 200 attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Furthermore, other Iran-backed groups, such as the Houthi rebels in Yemen, have launched dozens of attacks on military and civilian vessels in and around the Red Sea. This has resulted in American and British warships shooting down multiple rockets and drones.
So far, no projectiles have hit any American warships, but one struck an American-linked vessel in the Red Sea last week, causing a large fire.
Iran and its Revolutionary Guard Corps support a number of militant groups across the region, including the Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organizations.
