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Post by Webster on Feb 3, 2024 0:41:26 GMT -5
(The Guardian) The US strikes in Iraq and Syria appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders as Washington tries to prevent the conflict from escalating further. The Associated Press reports it is unclear what the impact of the strikes will be. Days of US warnings may have sent militia members scattering into hiding. With multiple groups operating at various locations in several countries, a knockout blow is unlikely, the news agency says. One of the main Iran-backed militias, Kataib Hezbollah, said it was suspending attacks on American troops, but others have vowed to continue fighting, casting themselves as champions of the Palestinian cause amid the war in Gaza. An Iraqi army spokesman said the city of al-Qaim and areas along the country’s border with Syria had been hit in the US strikes. The attacks “constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, posing a threat that will pull Iraq and the region to undesirable consequences”, Yahya Rasool said in a statement. US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US alerted the Iraqi government prior to carrying out the strikes. Just Friday morning, Iran’s hardline president, Ebrahim Raisi, reiterated earlier promises by Tehran to potentially retaliate for any US strikes targeting its interests. We “will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response”, he said. The US has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for last weekend’s drone attack in Jordan which killed three American troops. Some of the militias have been a threat to US bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas.
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Post by Webster on Feb 3, 2024 0:42:33 GMT -5
(The Guardian) 10pm Summary[ --US military forces have attacked more than 80 targets in Iraq and Syria in a wide-ranging air assault on sites belonging to Iran-linked militias and Tehran’s Revolutionary Guard. The US military’s Central Command said it had struck with more than 125 bombs in an attack that took place around midnight local time (4pm ET) in what is being described as the first of multiple attacks against the groups. The airstrikes took place over about 30 minutes on Friday, and three of the sites struck were in Iraq and four were in Syria, said Lt Gen Douglas Sims, director of the joint staff. --Initial reports from the ground were limited. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said at least 18 Iran-backed fighters have been killed in strikes in eastern Syria. At least 26 important sites housing pro-Iran groups including weapons depots had been destroyed in raids striking a large swath of eastern Syria, stretching more than 100km (62 miles) from the city of Deir ez-Zor to Albu Kamal, near the Iraq border, the monitoring group told AFP. --The US strikes had been launched in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan. The US said on Thursday it blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iran-linked militias, for the attack last weekend on the remote Tower 22 logistics base in Jordan, near the border with Syria and Iraq. Three US army reservists were killed after a living quarters was struck at night and more than 80 wounded. --US officials have said there were no plans to bomb Iran, which would represent a significant escalation. US administration officials have repeatedly stressed that Washington does not intend to go to war with Iran, despite the accusation that it had armed the groups behind the Tower 22 attack. --President Joe Biden warned after the attacks began that the US would retaliate if an American was hurt. His statement said: “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: if you harm an American, we will respond.” John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, said the responses “began tonight. They’re not going to end tonight.” --An Iraqi military spokesperson said US airstrikes were launched at Iraqi border areas, warning that the attacks could ignite instability in the region. Yahya Rasool said in a statement: “These airstrikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government and pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into dire consequences.” --The US announced new sanctions and charges aimed at the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, apparently timed to coincide with the American strikes. The US Treasury Department said it was imposing sanctions on six officials in the cyber-electronic command of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps over activities targeting critical infrastructure and was hitting a network of suppliers providing “materials and sensitive technology for Iran’s ballistic missile and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) programs”. As well, prosecutors said they had seized $108m used in an oil laundering scheme to fund the Guards’ elite Quds Force. --Republican senator Roger Wicker, a ranking member of the armed services committee, criticised the Biden administration for the airstrikes coming “far too late”. The Democratic chairman of the Senate armed services committee, Jack Reed, said he supported Biden’s “robust action” and “Iran’s proxy forces in Syria and Iraq have been dealt a significant blow”.
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Post by Webster on Feb 3, 2024 17:39:47 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Jordan involved in US strikes on Iran-backed targets in Iraq, Syria - reportThe Middle Eastern nation of Jordan is participating in America’s military operation launched late on Friday to attack Iranian-backed targets in Iraq and Syria in response to a drone strike that killed three US troops last weekend, CNN is reporting. The US cable TV giant cites an unnamed senior US official for its report. The US army reservists, all from the southern US state of Georgia, were killed at a base in north-east Jordan, bordering both Iraq and Syria last Sunday. CNN reported that the Jordanian Air Force denied participating and the Jordanian government would not comment on the story. The outlet further reported that: “While no Jordanian border guard forces were hurt, government communications minister Muhannad Moubaideen on Sunday described the strike as a “terrorist attack” and vowed to confront the threat of terrorism.”Talking live to CNN’s correspondent in Amman, Jordan, Ben Wedemen, moments ago the anchor asked him for some context on the report. Wedemen noted that Jordan joined the US, UK and others previously in the offensive against the Islamic State (Isis) fundamentalist militant group in the region, with participation by the Jordanian Air Force.
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Post by Webster on Feb 3, 2024 18:16:57 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Syria’s culture ministry has accused the US of having damaged a historic site in the eastern Deir ez-Zor province during the bombardment late on Friday. In a statement on social media, the ministry condemned “in the strongest terms the barbaric US bombardment” of Al-Rahba fortress in eastern Syria’s Mayadeen area. The citadel, located along the Euphrates River, dates to the ninth century, it said. The “blatant” attack violated “all international norms and charters that call for the protection and respect for cultural property,” the ministry added. The bombardment caused cracks and fissures in the fortress walls, a pro-government outlet reported antiquities chief Nazir Awad as saying. The full extent of the damage had not yet been assessed, he added.
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Post by Webster on Feb 3, 2024 18:18:45 GMT -5
(The Guardian) US warned Iraq before strikes, says US officialIraq received prior warning ahead of last night’s airstrikes, a senior US administration official has said. As we reported earlier, Iraq’s prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, has denied that the strikes were coordinated by the Baghdad government beforehand with Washington, calling such assertions “lies”. But a US official has told NBC that the Iraqi government was given short-notice warning that the US would strike. They said: It wasn’t a huge heads up, but it is not accurate to say they weren’t informed.The official noted that last night’s strikes were tied directly to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and were in direct response to the killing of the three US service members, unlike the smaller US retaliation following Houthi attacks on international shipping. They added: What you saw last night and what you are going to see again was not insignificant. There are other things we’re going to do. Some you will see and some you won’t see.
UN security council to hold emergency meeting over US strikes - reportsThe UN security council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon on the US strikes in Iraq and Syria, AFP reported, citing diplomatic sources. The meeting will take place at 4pm Eastern time (2100 GMT) on Monday, according to reports. The meeting was requested by UN permanent member Russia to discuss “threats to international peace and security from the US strikes”, its UN representative Dmitry Polyansky said. Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said earlier today that Moscow condemned the US airstrikes, and believes the situation needs to be considered by the UN security council. She said in a statement: It is obvious that the airstrikes are deliberately designed to further inflame the conflict. By attacking, almost without pause, the facilities of allegedly pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria, the US are purposefully trying to drive the largest countries in the region into conflict.
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