7 dead in US airstrikes on Iran-backed militia bases
New raids send ‘clear and necessary’ deterrent message
Middle East tensions soared on Monday after seven Iranbacked militia fighters were killed in US airstrikes on their bases in Syria and Iraq.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the strikes early on Monday, the second since President Joe Biden took office, were a warning to the militias to stop attacking US forces.
“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,” Blinken said
“This action in self-defense ... sends a very important and strong message. I would hope that the message sent by the strikes will be heard, and deter future action.”
However, the airstrikes were a “blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security,” Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi said. “Iraq reiterates its refusal to be an arena for settling scores,” he said.
Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said the government was determined to “prevent any escalation ... detrimental to the security and stability of Iraq.”
The airstrikes also drew rare condemnation from the Iraqi military, which has been cooordinating closely with US forces in fighting the remnants of Daesh.
US defense spokesman John Kirby said the airstrikes had targeted two operational and weapons storage facilities in Syria and one in Iraq, which were used by “Iranbacked militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq.”
Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada, two Iraqi armed factions with close ties to Tehran, were among “several Iranbacked militia groups” that had used the bases, the Pentagon said.
The Hashd Al-Shaabi, an Iraqi paramilitary alliance that includes several Iranian proxies, said: “We reserve the legal right to respond to these attacks and hold the perpetrators
I would hope that the message sent by the airstrikes will be heard, and deter future action.
Antony Blinken US secretary of state
accountable on Iraqi soil.”
There have been more than 40 attacks this year on US targets in Iraq, where 2,500 American troops are deployed as part of an international coalition to fight Daesh.
The latest airstrikes underscore how Biden aims to compartmentalize such defensive strikes, while simultaneously engaging Tehran in diplomacy.
Biden’s critics say Iran cannot be trusted and point to the drone attacks as further evidence that Iran and its proxies will never accept a US military presence in Iraq or Syria.