The White House announces the success of the US strikes that lasted about 30 minutes in Iraq and Syria,
A White House spokesman announced on Friday the success of the strikes launched by the United States in Iraq and Syria against fighters loyal to Iran.
The US air strikes via warplanes participating in the operation, which targeted a total of 85 targets in seven different locations (3 in Iraq and 4 in Syria), firing more than 125 precision-guided munitions in about thirty minutes.
The White House said that the United States informed the Iraqi government before carrying out retaliatory strikes on Friday against targets linked to Iran, while Baghdad denounced the air strikes as a violation of its sovereignty.
John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, told the press, “We informed the Iraqi government” about this in advance.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told the press, “We are not seeking war with Iran”.
The US Central Command announced on a social media network that “the air strikes were launched using more than 125 precision munitions,” explaining that the targets included command, control and intelligence centers as well as facilities for storing missiles and drones belonging to armed factions and Iranian forces that “facilitated attacks on US and coalition forces”.
For his part, US President Joe Biden said, commenting on the strikes, “This evening, based on my directives, US forces carried out strikes on facilities in Iraq and Syria that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and its allied factions use to attack US forces”.
The US President said in a statement: “Our response began today… It’ll continue at times and places of our choosing,” he added, “The United States doesn’t seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world, but let those who would seek to harm us know that if you harm an American, we will respond”.
Four US officials said that the United States began carrying out retaliatory strikes, Friday, in Iraq and Syria against facilities linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the factions it supports, after an attack in Jordan that led to the death of three US soldiers and the wounding of about 40 others.
The strikes are believed to be only the first wave of President Joe Biden’s administration’s response to weekend attacks carried out by Iranian-backed militants.
The US strikes didn’t target any sites inside Iran, but they are likely to stoke fears of escalating tension in the Middle East as a result of the Israeli war that has been ongoing for more than three months with Hamas in Gaza.
On the other hand, Syrian official media said on Friday that “American aggression” against sites in the Syrian desert and on its border with Iraq led to the death of at least 10 dead and wounded.
For their part, an Iraqi army spokesman said that American air strikes targeted border areas in Iraq, and warned that these attacks may ignite instability in the region.
Spokesman Yahya Rasool added in a statement, “These strikes are a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, an undermining of the efforts of the Iraqi government, and a threat that will drag Iraq and the region into unforeseen consequences, the consequences of which will be dire for security and stability in Iraq and the region”.
For his part, the military spokesman for the Iraqi Prime Minister, Muhammad al Sudani, said on Saturday that the American retaliatory strikes constitute a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” expressing his fear of severe consequences for Iraq’s security and stability.
Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul confirmed, in a statement, that there had been “US-led air strikes” on the al Qaim region on the border with Syria and on other Iraqi border areas.
He said, “These strikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, an undermining of the efforts of the Iraqi government, and a threat that will drag Iraq and the region into undesirable consequences, and its consequences will be dire for security and stability in Iraq and the region”.
