WASHINGTON – Iran-backed terrorists launched two more attacks against U.S. and allied troops in Syria over the weekend, officials said Monday, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Saudi Arabia on his latest Middle East tour. to try to stop the conflict between Israel and Gaza. to grow.
Iranian proxy militias fired two rockets at the Syrian Support Mission Site Euphrates, targeting U.S. and coalition forces stationed there, on Saturday, according to Pentagon Press Secretary, Air Force Brig. General Pat Ryder.
The next day, Tehran-backed groups 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 any of the weekend attacks, which were the latest in a series of more than 165 Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. forces in Syria, Iraq and Jordan since Oct. 17, according to the Pentagon.
As of Jan. 29, about 80 U.S. personnel had been wounded in the series of attacks over the past three and a half months, deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said at the time.
The first and only U.S. troop death so far occurred on January 27, when three U.S. soldiers were killed in an attack on a secret military outpost 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 militias launched two attacks against US and allied troops in Syria over the weekend, according to officials. 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-guided munitions over the course of approximately 30 minutes” in a retaliatory mission to avenge the death of the three soldiers, said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. Friday.
That mission targeted the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a Tehran-backed militia group – including Kataib Hezbollah – responsible for the fatal attack on US forces, as well as a branch of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that specializes in intelligence. military and unconventional warfare.
Members of the IRI are believed to have been involved in the weekend attacks, which came just days after Katib Hezbollah announced on January 30 that it would cease its attacks on US forces in the region following Washington’s earlier promise to bring carry out retaliatory attacks.
An RAF Typhoon FGR4 aircraft returning to base in Cyprus following attacks 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 at face value, encouraging the public to “watch their actions, not their words.”
As U.S. Central Command continues to evaluate the success of its strikes, Ryder said Pentagon officials “currently assess that we had good effects and that the strikes destroyed or functionally damaged more than 80 targets at the seven facilities” attacked Friday by the afternoon.
But Ryder’s positive outlook on the attack’s effectiveness has been offset by continued attacks on US forces.
A Houthi military exercise with an American flag in Yemen on February 3, 2024. HOUTHIS MEDIA CENTER HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Asked to explain the Defense Department’s initially optimistic assessment of its impacts despite its failure to deter further enemy attacks, the spokesman said there are early signs that the airstrikes degraded some enemy capabilities.
Citing CENTCOM’s ongoing assessment, Ryder declined to provide an initial estimate of the number of enemy killed or wounded in U.S. airstrikes. He said it’s safe to assume at least some died.
“I think it’s fair to conclude that there were likely casualties associated with these attacks,” he said.
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As Blinken in Saudi Arabia pushed the Biden administration’s message that it is not seeking war with Iran or another escalation in the Middle East conflict, Ryder pressed the same point to reporters at the Pentagon.
Still, he said additional U.S. strikes can be expected in defense of U.S. troops, who are based in the region to fight the Islamic State, which so far is not believed to have been involved in the recent attacks.
“Our goal is not, ‘Okay, the game starts, let’s do this and move on.’ [to] “A full-scale war against Iranian proxy groups in Iraq and Syria” is not what we are there for,” he said. “We are there to carry out the mission in support of defeating ISIS.”
Although U.S. troops in the region are focused on ISIS, Ryder said service members at targeted bases are authorized to hunt down any group that attacks them.
“Our forces will always maintain the inherent right of self-defense,” he said. “So if they need to take appropriate measures to defend themselves, they will, and they’ve seen us do it in the past.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn