US defends airstrikes in Iraq and Syria
ROME: The United States on Monday strongly defended weekend strikes against Iran-aligned militias but the fighters vowed revenge and both Iraq and Syria condemned the unilateral US air strikes as violations of their sovereignty.
The US military said it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one in Iraq in response to drone atacks by the militia against US personnel and facilities in Iraq.
“We took necessary, appropriate, deliberate action that is designed to limit the risk of escalation, but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in Rome.
Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran in a statement named four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-shuhada faction they said were killed in the atack on the Syria-iraq border. They vowed to retaliate.
Iraq’s government, wary of geting dragged into a Us-iran conflict, condemned the strikes on its territory and said it would “study all legal options” to prevent such action being repeated.
Syria called the strikes a “flagrant violation of the sanctity of Syrian and Iraqi lands.”
The United States also warned on Monday that Russia would put at risk hopes for more constructive relations if it uses its UN veto to shut the sole border crossing for aid into Syria.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken joined Italy in leading talks in Rome of the Us-led coalition to defeat the Daesh group which discussed the Bab al-hawa crossing into Syria from Turkey.
Blinken told reporters it was crucial to work to “broadening cross-border assistance, which is essential in reaching millions of Syrians who are in dire need of food, medicine, Covid vaccines and other lifesaving aid.”
The crossing is due to close on July 10 without UN authorisation for another year and Russia — which has already succeeded in reducing the border openings to one — has not ruled out using its veto power to block an extension.
Blinken also said that 10,000 Daesh fighters continue to be held in detention in camps run by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and that this situation was “untenable.”
Speaking at the opening of a meeting in Rome to renew international efforts to combat the militia, Blinken said Washington continued to urge countries, including the 78 member countries of the coalition against Daesh, to take back their citizens who had joined the group.