U.S. F-15 jets attack two Iranian-linked targets in Syria

The U.S. military on Thursday carried out strikes against two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and groups it backs, the Pentagon said, in response to a spate of attacks against U.S. forces in both Iraq and Syria.

The strikes targeted weapons and ammunition storage facilities using F-15 planes, an official said, and were not coordinated with Israel.

“These precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

“These narrowly-tailored strikes in self-defense were intended solely to protect and defend U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria,” Austin added. “They are separate and distinct from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. and do not constitute a shift in our approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict.”

An unnamed U.S. defense official told Reuters that “Iran is responsible for strikes by its proxies against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.”

The strikes were ordered by President Joe Biden, the Pentagon confirmed.

Source » haaretz.com