After waiting almost a week following the death of US troops in Jordan, the US military conducted strikes against Islamic militias in Iraq and Syria. US power unleashed multiples strikes against headquarters and munitions depots of groups responsible for the attacks.
Remains of PMF locations in the Anbar Province, Iraq after last nights airstrikes. Reports of at least 15 killed in the strikes. pic.twitter.com/R0fzYmxpi7
— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) February 3, 2024
Iran has been launching a multitude of attacks on US troops in the region, in large part due to the support for Israel’s war against Hamas. Naval forces are also engaged in confrontations with the Houthi’s, themselves supported by Iran. Fox News says:
The 85 targets included command and control operations, intelligence centers, militia group’s rockets, missiles, unmanned vehicle storages and supply chain facilities, CENTCOM said.
All of Friday’s airstrikes were conducted by U.S. warplanes, not Navy vessels, according to a senior defense official.
Most of America’s Arab and Muslim allies are sitting on the sidelines. While cooperative with America against Iran, any intervention on their part would signal to their population – rightly or wrongly – that they support Israel over the Palestinian people. The NY Times reports:
Civilians, as well as soldiers, were among those killed in Syria, the country’s defense ministry said. At least 18 members of Iran-backed groups were killed in strikes on 26 sites there, according to Britain-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which has researchers in the country. U.S. officials said they were confident the strikes on 85 targets at seven sites in the two countries had hit “exactly what they meant to hit” but that analysts would make a closer assessment in daylight.
U.S. officials said the targets were all linked to specific attacks against U.S. troops in the region, describing them as command and control operations, intelligence centers, weapons facilities and bunkers used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force and affiliated militia groups.
While the strikes are impressive, they do not solve the core issue that Iraq and Syria both want US troops out of their territory. Conservative leader Joe Kent commented that Iran has full mobility within Iraq, while US troops are prisoners in their own bases. Further attacks by Iranian proxies will grind US power down in the hostile location.
So we are bombing Syria & Iraq after telegraphing, Iran moved anyone that matters, but we left our troops in the same locations so Iran can still strike us when they want.
— Joe Kent for WA-3 (@joekent16jan19) February 2, 2024
Congress should put a resolution on the floor to pull our troops out immediately. See who wants to put…
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