US launches airstrikes in Syria and Iraq after soldier deaths
The U.S. President Joe Biden confirmed on Saturday that the US launched airstrikes against targets in eastern Syria and western Iraq, marking a response to the recent death of three American soldiers in a drone attack.
The US airstrikes are being carried out in retaliation for the three US soldiers killed in a drone strike on January 28, for which the Iraqi Islamic Resistance group claimed responsibility. More than 40 US soldiers were wounded in the drone attack on the US base Tower 22 located in Jordan.
According to media reports, the US aerial attacks have focused on the Syrian eastern province of Dair Al Zawr.
The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has claimed that at least six people have been killed in the US attacks so far, while 11 bases were attacked by US fighter jets.
Meanwhile, the United Kingdom Maritime Security Ambery has reported that two explosions were heard near the Yemeni Zibair island.
A US official has told ABC News that the US attacks have not begun yet, and the reported attacks by the media in eastern Syria were not carried out by the US army.
No US officials have confirmed that the American airstrikes have been conducted.
Before all this, Sky News Arabic Language reported US bombers were flying over areas in eastern Syria.
Lebanese Alahed news website citing its sources announced that this aerial assault left several people martyred.
"In these attacks, areas between Al-Bukamal and Al-Mayadeen in eastern Syria have been targeted," Alahed report added.
The US Central Command-CENTCOM said the strikes hit more than 85 targets linked to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated groups in Iraq and Syria.
A US official has told ABC News that the attacks were carried out by the United States in retaliation for the deaths of the three US soldiers killed whose bodies were transferred to the US earlier tonight.
The strikes are believed to be just the first in a multi-tiered response by President Joe Biden's administration, Reuters reports.
Joe Biden has commented on the US airstrikes and said that the US is not looking for war with any country in the region.
"The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world," Biden said. "But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond."
“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” the US president further claimed. (ILKHA)