WASHINGTON – Iran-backed terrorists launched two more attacks on US forces and its allies in Syria over the weekend, officials said Monday — as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia on his latest Middle East trip to try to stop the Israel-Gaza conflict from escalating.
Iran’s proxy militia fired two rockets at the Syrian Mission Support The Euphrates site, targeting US and coalition forces stationed there, on Saturday, according to Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. General Pat Ryder.
The next day, the Tehran-backed group launched an attack drone at the Green Village Mission Support Site, also in Syria, but it “landed several kilometers” from the military base, Ryder said.
No injuries or damage were reported in either weekend attack, which was the latest in a series of more than 165 Iran-backed attacks on US forces in Syria, Iraq and Jordan since October 17, according to the Pentagon.
As of January 29, about 80 US personnel had been injured in consecutive attacks over the past three and a half months, Pentagon deputy spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said at the time.
The first and only US military death so far occurred on January 27, when three American soldiers were killed in an attack on a secret military post in Jordan called “Tower 22.”
Houthi fighters at a rally in Sana’a, Yemen on February 4, 2024. Photo by Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images Iranian proxy militias launched two attacks on US and allied forces in Syria over the weekend, officials said. Photo by Mohammed Hamoud/Getty Images
Saturday’s attack in Syria came a day after US military aircraft including B-1 bombers fired “more than 125 precision missiles over a period of about 30 minutes” in a mission to avenge the deaths of the three soldiers, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. Friday.
The mission targets the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a Tehran-backed militia umbrella group – including Kataib Hezbollah – responsible for deadly attacks on US troops, as well as a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that specializes in military intelligence and unconventional warfare.
IRI members are believed to have been involved in the weekend attack, which came just days after Katib Hezbollah announced on January 30 that it would halt its attacks on American forces in the region following Washington’s earlier pledge to retaliate.
An RAF Typhoon FGR4 aircraft returns to base in Cyprus after an attack on the Houthis on February 4, 2024. CAS1 Jake Green/RAF via AP
At the time, senior White House and Pentagon officials warned the public not to take Kataib Hezbollah’s words at face value, encouraging the public to “watch their actions, not their words.”
While the US Central Command continues to assess the success of its attack, Ryder said Pentagon officials “at this time assess that we had a good impact, and that the attack destroyed or impaired the function of more than 80 targets at the seven facilities” that were targeted Friday afternoon.
But Ryder’s positive view of the strike’s effectiveness has been offset by continued attacks on US troops.
Houthi military exercises involving the US flag in Yemen on Feb. 3. 2024. HOUTHIS MEDIA CENTER HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Asked to explain the Defense Department’s optimistic initial assessment of its impact despite failing to prevent further enemy attacks, the spokesman said there were early signs that the airstrikes were degrading some enemy capabilities.
Citing CENTCOM’s ongoing assessment, Ryder declined to provide an initial estimate of the number of enemy killed or wounded in US airstrikes. He said it was safe to assume at least some were killed.
“I think it is fair to conclude that there may be casualties associated with this strike,” he said.
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As Blinken in Saudi Arabia dismissed the Biden administration’s message that it does not want war with Iran or other escalations in the Middle East conflict, Ryder peddled the same to reporters at the Pentagon.
However, he said that additional US strikes could be expected in defense of American troops, which are based in the region to fight Islamic State – which is not so far believed to have been involved in the recent attacks.
“Our goal is not, ‘OK, keep playing, let’s do this and go [to] full-scale war against Iranian proxy groups in Iraq and Syria’ – that’s not what we’re aiming for there,” he said. “We are there to carry out a mission to support the defeat of ISIS.”
While US forces in the region are focused on ISIS, Ryder said service members at targeted bases are empowered to hunt down any group that attacks them.
“Our team will always maintain the inherent right to defend itself,” he said. “So if they need to take appropriate action to defend themselves, they will, and you’ve seen us do that in the past.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
