The United States carried out strikes targeting elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria, in retaliation for a drone attack in Jordan that killed three American soldiers on Sunday.
Here's what we know at this point:
Hit Iranian targets, but not Iran
The White House said US warplanes targeted a total of 85 targets at seven different locations - three in Iraq and four in Syria - and that the operation was a "success".
The American armed forces targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Iranian regime, its Quds Force which is its elite unit and pro-Iranian armed groups.
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Centcom (US Middle East Military Command) said the 85 sites involved command and intelligence centers, as well as drone and missile storage infrastructure belonging to militias and Iranian forces “
that have permitted attacks against US and coalition forces.
At least 18 pro-Iranian fighters were killed by these strikes on eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) reported.
Baghdad denounced a
“violation of Iraqi sovereignty”
, while the United States claimed
“to have warned the Iraqi government before the strikes”
.
Joe Biden did not order strikes on Iran as some Republican opponents demanded.
The Democratic leader also apparently did not target Iranian officials as his predecessor Donald Trump did in January 2020 by killing Qassem Soleimani, former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, in a strike in Baghdad. -East.
The American president declared Friday that
“the United States did not want conflict either in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world”
and the White House repeated after the strikes that it did not want a
“war”
with Iran with which they have no longer maintained diplomatic relations since 1980.
What is the United States responding to?
Joe Biden, campaigning for a second term, pledged to respond to the death on Sunday of three American soldiers killed by a drone strike in Jordan, near the Syrian border, where 350 soldiers are stationed as part of the fight against the Islamic State group.
Their bodies were repatriated on Friday.
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The United States has pointed the finger at Iraqi armed groups supported by Iran.
American forces in Iraq and Syria have suffered at least 165 drone attacks or rocket attacks since mid-October, according to an official, but Sunday was the first time that American soldiers lost their lives.
How did we get here?
Regional tensions have continued to rise since the bloody attack by Hamas, supported by Iran, against Israel, followed by incessant Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip.
Through its diplomacy and its military presence in the region, the United States has been trying for nearly four months to prevent the conflict between the Jewish state and the Palestinian Islamist movement from spreading to Lebanon and to a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah supported by Iran.
Naval and aerial drones, missiles... The battle in the Red Sea continues between the Houthi rebels and the coalition
But Washington, with the support of London, has resorted to military action since October 7 against the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen who are launching attacks against merchant or military ships in the Red Sea.
And now?
Joe Biden warned that the
United States'
“response” had
“started today”
and that
“it will continue according to the schedule and in the places”
that Washington
“decides”
.
“We do not want to see one more attack against American positions or military personnel in the region
,” warned the White House National Security Council.
Many experts in Washington believe that Iran will not take the risk of a direct conflict with the world's leading power but that it has strengthened itself since the war in Gaza and its support for Hamas by rallying more support in the Arab world.