U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that the United States targeted a structure belonging to an Iran-backed faction in Syria with an airstrike.
Reuters reported today that the strikes targeted locations previously used by the militia that carried out attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. He explained that the raid focused on sites in eastern Syria used by what he described as "the militia that struck our forces in Iraq," noting that the United States encouraged the Iraqi government to investigate and provided them with intelligence that was "very helpful in identifying the target." Secretary Austin revealed that the airstrike against the militias in Syria was recommended by him, emphasizing the earlier statement regarding "responding in a timely manner." He added, "We are confident in the target we hit, and we know what we struck in eastern Syria."
For its part, Syrian state television reported that the U.S. attack on Friday targeted several areas in eastern Syria along the border with Iraq. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights announced on Friday morning that the U.S. airstrikes conducted overnight on sites in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border resulted in a significant number of casualties, with initial information indicating at least 17 fatalities among Iraqi fighters in the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF). This strike marks the first military operation conducted by the Biden administration against Iranian groups, amid efforts to resume dialogue with Tehran through European mediation aimed at reviving the 2015 nuclear agreement.
