By Keir Simmons, Raf Sanchez, Courtney Kube, Matt Bradley and Chantal Da Silva -
NBC News
US airstrikes on Friday night on 85 targets at seven facilities in Iraq and Syria killed at least 16 people, including civilians, and wounded 25 others, an Iraqi government spokesman said in a statement.
The attacks, on the western border between Syria and Iraq, "put security in Iraq and the region on the brink," according to the statement.
They also caused "damage and loss to residential buildings and citizens' properties."
[USA. launches a series of airstrikes against pro-Iran targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the death of three soldiers]
Iraq "was not the appropriate place to send messages and show strength between adversaries," the spokesperson said.
Debris following the airstrike in the Al-Qa'im city of Anbar, Iraq, on February 3, 2024.Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images
Hussein al-Mossawi, spokesman for Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the main militias backed by Tehran in Iraq, said in an interview with The Associated Press news agency in Baghdad that Washington "must understand that every action provokes a reaction." although in a more conciliatory tone he later stated that "we do not wish to escalate or expand regional tensions."
The United States attacked pro-Iranian militia positions in Iraq and eastern Syria for more than 30 minutes;
Among its targets were operations, intelligence and command centers, rockets and missiles, unmanned aerial vehicle warehouses and supply chains.
It is expected to be the first in a series of attacks in retaliation for the death of three US soldiers in Jordan during an attack last Sunday, said a US defense official quoted by NBC News.
[Iran threatens to respond if the US retaliates for the attack in Jordan: “We are not afraid of war”]
The soldiers who died in the operation, attributed to militant groups supported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of Iran, were identified as Sergeant William Jerome Ríos, 46 years old;
Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24;
and Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23.
Lieutenant General Douglas A. Sims II assured that the United States was satisfied with the accuracy of the attacks and that they were carried out with the understanding that there would likely be casualties.
"It is by far the most expansive military action we have seen so far against Iran's proxies in Syria and Iraq," explained Charles Lister, a researcher at the Middle East Institute.
"That makes it a significant advance."
The airstrikes are fueling the conflict in the Middle East "in a very dangerous way," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on social media.
These were, according to Syria, violations of the "sovereignty, territorial integrity and security of the Syrian people" and caused "significant damage to public and private property."
It is still unclear how many people died in Syria following the US operations.