Graphic: TP
The new U.S. president bombs Shiite militias in Syria after the missile attacks on U.S. targets in Iraq
Early today in Central Europe, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby announced that the U.S. military had launched airstrikes against infrastructure in eastern Syria on the orders of Joseph Biden, the new U.S. president who has been in office for more than five weeks. These facilities had been used by "Iran-backed militant groups" such as Kait’ib Hezbollah and Kait’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada, which had also carried out attacks in Iraq.
Biden spoke Wednesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi about the rocket attacks
With the bombing, according to Kirby, President Biden is sending the "unambiguous message", that he "will act", to protect the personnel of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq. In doing so, the Pentagon spokesman referred to a statement released on 15. February missile attack on an airbase in Erbil, northern Iraq, which killed a civilian employee and injured a U.S. soldier, and on missiles hitting the Grunen Zone in Baghdad seven days after that.
Biden had spoken with Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi on Wednesday about these attacks. Afterwards, both politicians declared that they were in agreement that the perpetrators of the crime were the people "be held fully accountable" had to. Earlier, the U.S. Department of Defense had stated that the missiles used in the two attacks were manufactured in Iran. Earlier today, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin thanked Iraq for its help in preparing the retaliatory strike.
"Behavioral military response" with the aim of, "to de-escalate the situation both in eastern Syria and in Iraq generally"
According to the New York Times information, a total of seven 227-pound bombs were dropped in this retaliatory strike. One of them reportedly hit a Kait’ib-Hezbollah convoy near Iran’s Imam Ali military base. The U.K.-based Syrian opposition agency "Observatory for Human Rights" speaks more generally of the Shiite militia umbrella organization Hashd al-Shabi, of which 22 members were killed last night. According to her, three trucks carrying ammunition in the convoy were hit in a.
Kirby herself did not give detailed information on this and spoke only of a "defensive precision strike" and one "the military response to the situation", which had been carried out with the aim of, "de-escalate the situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq in general". For this purpose "diplomatic measures" and "consultations with coalition partners" flanked.
Distance from Mohammed bin Salman
Kirby did not reveal the specific diplomatic measures involved. A possible indirect rearance offer to Iran could have been that the U.S. yesterday also officially released the intelligence report, known informally for two years, on the role of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the destruction of Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of the royal house close to the Erdogan. Biden had already distanced himself from Mohammed bin Salman when he said that his contact person with the Saudis was the king, not the crown prince.
The Iranian public news agency IRNA reported this morning only that Iranian Minister of State Mohammed Javad Sarif spoke on the phone with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad to discuss the unacceptable violation of international law "Links" between the two countries and about "Regional and international developments" to speak. In doing so, the two leaders had agreed that Western powers had to abide by UN resolutions on Syria and respect the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The Syrian public news agency SANA treated the event in a more concrete way in its international appearance, but referred mainly to a condemnation of the bombings by Russian Auben Minister Sergei Lavrov, who, according to the Russian Novosti agency, spoke of an "unacceptable violation of international law" spoke.