The News Freedom
Chandigarh, October 27
The US military has launched airstrikes on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), signalling a new willingness in Washington to engage its forces directly in the crisis in the Middle East, The Guardian reported. The strikes, which the Pentagon said hit a weapons storage facility and an ammunition storage facility used by the IRGC and militia it backs, were the first such US military intervention since war broke out between Hamas and Israel on 7 October., a report said.
As per The Guardian’s report, the US facilities in Iraq and Syria have been hit by a series of low-level attacks by drones and rockets over the past 10 days that have been claimed by Iran-backed militia, amid growing fears that the Hamas-Israel war could escalate into a regional conflict. The attacks have injured at least 24 US servicemen and the death of one civilian contractor. There were three such attacks on Thursday, striking two US bases in Syria and one in western Iraq.
Experts told the Guardian this week there was “a limit to patience” in Washington and that the administration of President Joe Biden would probably seek to deter with force any further attacks despite the risk of escalation. Biden has already ordered two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean and sent new anti-missile units with hundreds of troops to protect US bases and allies in the region. The report highlighted that the US retaliatory strikes were carried out by two F-16 fighter jets at about 4.30am on Friday near Abu Kamal, a Syrian town on the border with Iraq, where the US has a major base that has been the target of several recent attacks by Iran-backed militia. It was unclear if Iranian nationals were killed.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, described “self-defence strikes” and said Biden had directed the tailored strikes “to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests”, a report in The Guardian further said.