by The United States on Friday carried out a series of military strikes against Iranian forces and the militias they support at seven sites in Syria and Iraq, marking a sharp escalation of the Middle East war that the Biden administration has sought to avoid for four months. . .
The airstrikes, targeting command and control operations, intelligence centers, weapons facilities and bunkers used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and affiliated militia groups, fulfilled President Biden’s promise to respond to a drone strike in Jordan on Sunday that killed three Americans. soldiers and injured at least 40 other service members.
The military action also sought to send a message to Iran and the militias it backs that continued attacks on U.S. troops in the region and commercial ships in the Red Sea would prompt a response.
The strikes hit more than 85 targets in different locations using more than 125 precision-guided munitions, according to a statement from US Central Command.
“Last Sunday, three American soldiers were killed in Jordan by a drone launched by militant groups backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” President Biden said in a statement. “Our response began today.”
Biden approved the attacks earlier in the week. He even telegraphed that they would come when he told reporters on Tuesday that he had made a decision on the response to the drone attack on a remote outpost in Jordan. Middle East analysts said many Revolutionary Guard trainers, fearful of being attacked, returned to Iran this week while militia leaders were in hiding.
But U.S. officials made clear that Friday night’s attacks would be followed by others in the coming days, weeks and perhaps even months. Two U.S. officials said the United States also conducted cyber operations against Iranian targets on Friday, but they declined to provide details.
The American response, Biden said in his statement on Friday, “will continue at times and places of our choosing.”
“The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world,” he said. “But let all those who may try to harm us know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”
U.S. bombers hit targets at four sites in Syria and three sites in Iraq in a 30-minute strike, U.S. officials said. John F. Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters Friday night that the Iraqi government had been notified in advance of the attacks.
Kirby said the targets at each site were chosen because they were linked to specific attacks on US troops in the region and to avoid civilian casualties. He said he did not know if any Iranians or militia members were killed or wounded in the attack.
The goal of the attacks, Kirby said, was to “take away the ability” of the militias to continue attacking U.S. troops. “Tonight wasn’t just a texting routine.”
By avoiding targets in Iran, the White House and Central Command are trying to send a message of deterrence while controlling escalation. It is clear from statements from the White House and Tehran that neither the United States nor Iran want a broader war. But, as the attack in Jordan demonstrated, any military action carries the potential for miscalculation.
The Biden administration carried out what officials called a “phased” response: attacking multiple targets from the air. The Pentagon deployed two U.S. B-1B bombers, which departed Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, early Friday and made a flight of more than 6,000 miles to deliver their payload of ammunition from the skies over Iraq and Syria.
Sending B1-B bombers from U.S. soil comes with several advantages, officials said. The B-1Bs can carry dozens of precision munitions, allowing commanders in the region to keep their ground and carrier-based attack aircraft in reserve for later strikes, a U.S. official said. Middle Eastern countries that host US attack aircraft are increasingly reluctant to have their bases used for offensive strikes in Iraq, Syria and Yemen to avoid being perceived as supporters of Israel. Attacking sites in the Middle East with aircraft launched from the United States and refueled in the air is a powerful demonstration of global reach and capability, the official said.
“The beauty of the American bomber is that we can strike anywhere in the world at any time we choose,” Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims, director of the Army’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Friday night.
Officials said the strike was scheduled for clear weather. While the military can attack when there are clouds, a clear night allows for a greater degree of confidence.
General Sims said that once it was daylight in Iraq and Syria on Saturday, military analysts would closely examine the targets attacked. But he said the Pentagon was confident the bombers had hit “exactly what they intended.” Secondary explosions showed that the Air Force planes hit the ammunition depots they were targeting, he said.
In a statement later Friday, Iraqi Armed Forces spokesman Maj. Gen. Yahya Rasool called U.S. action in Iraq “unacceptable” and “a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.”
With Friday’s attacks, the administration moved into a new phase in its efforts to manage the growing conflict, which began on October 7 when the Hamas militant group attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people.
Since then, Israel’s retaliation has killed more than 26,000 people, most of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
Biden and his top advisers have been reluctant to take steps that could lead the United States into a broader war in an already hugely unstable region. “That’s not what I’m looking for,” he told reporters Tuesday.
Similarly, the leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps said Wednesday that Tehran was “not seeking war either.” And Kata’ib Hezbollah, one of the groups that U.S. officials say may have been responsible for the attack, made the surprising announcement Tuesday that it would suspend military operations in Iraq, where it operates. But the leader of the Revolutionary Guard Corps also warned that Iran was prepared to respond if attacked.
With the latest attacks, that possibility is getting closer and closer. Administration officials said Biden had no choice but to hit back after the attack in Jordan killed the three American soldiers, especially since their deaths came amid a steady stream of attacks from Iran-backed groups such as the Houthis in Yemen and Kata’ib Hezbollah. in Iraq. And now experts say there is a real fear that Iran could be drawn further into the fighting.
Biden has been under pressure from Republicans at home to respond strongly to the attacks in Jordan. But critics on Capitol Hill said Friday that the president’s warnings of imminent attacks allowed Iranian and militia commanders and advisers to flee.
“The Biden administration spent nearly a week foolishly telegraphing America’s intentions to our adversaries, giving them time to relocate and hide,” said Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee.
Friday’s U.S. strikes may be just the beginning of an extended series of attacks aimed at damaging or destroying the ability of Iranian-backed militias to launch missiles, drones and attack drones against U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria and Jordan. . Militias have carried out at least 166 such attacks since October 7, according to the Pentagon.
Kirby signaled that strategy when he said Tuesday that it was “very possible” that the United States would take “not just one action, but potentially multiple actions, over a period of time.”
The B-1B bombers were in the air Friday as Biden attended the dignified transfer of the three soldiers killed in Jordan: Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, and Specialist Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23. Their remains arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Friday. The Army Reserve said this week that it had posthumously promoted Specialists Moffett and Sanders to sergeant, and Sergeant Rivers to first sergeant.
