US launches counter-strikes in Iraq and Syria, officials announce

While the US strikes did not target any locations inside Iran, they are likely to increase concern about tensions in the Middle East.

The United States started carrying out retaliatory strikes on Friday in Iraq and Syria, three US officials said, after deadly attack in Jordan that killed three US troops and injured some 40 others.

The strikes are believed to be just the first in a multi-tiered response by President Joe Biden’s administration in response to the weekend attacks that were carried out by Iran-backed militants.

While the US strikes did not target any locations inside Iran, they are likely to increase concern about tensions in the Middle East spiraling from Israel’s more than three-month-old war with Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

Two of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a formal statement was expected in the coming hour.

‘American aggression’ resulted in casualties – Syrian media

Syrian state media also said on that the ‘American aggression’ on number of sites on Syria’s desert areas and the Syrian and Iraqi border resulted in a number of casualties and injuries.

It came just hours after Biden and Pentagon leaders attended the remains of the three American soldiers killed in the Jordan attack returning to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

The Jordan attack was the first deadly strike against US troops since the Israel-Hamas war erupted in October and marked a major escalation in tensions.

The United States has assessed that the drone that killed three of its soldiers and also wounded more than 40 other people was made by Iran, US officials have told Reuters.

The Iraqi military said early on Saturday that US air strikes were launched at Iraqi border areas, warning that the attacks could ignite instability in the region.

“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,” Iraqi military spokesman Yahya Rasool said in a statement.
Biden’s, Kirby’s statements on the attack

President Joe Biden said on Friday he had directed military strikes on facilities in Iraq and Syria affiliated with the groups that attacked US forces and said the response would continue.

“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” Biden said in a statement. “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.”

The United States informed Iraq ahead of strikes on Friday against three militant sites inside that country, the White House said, just minutes after the Iraq’s military condemned them as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

“We did inform the Iraqi government prior to the strikes,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

Kirby also said that over 80 strikes were carried out by US forces at seven facilities, three in Iraq and four in Syria.