WASHINGTON DC — 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.
اضافة اعلان
The US military said it targeted operational and weapons
storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one in Iraq in response to
drone attacks 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 attack on the Syria-Iraq border. They vowed to retaliate.
Iraq's government, wary of getting 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."
Iraq's military issued a condemnation of the US strikes. The
Iraqi and US militaries coordinate closely in a separate battle in Iraq,
fighting remnants of the extremist group Daesh.
It was the second time President
Joe Biden had ordered
retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed militia since taking office five months
ago. He ordered limited strikes in Syria in February, that time in response to
rocket attacks in Iraq.
Two US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of
anonymity, said Iran-backed militias carried out at least five drone attacks
against facilities used by US and coalition personnel in Iraq since April.
Biden's administration has been looking to potentially
revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. The attacks 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.
Iran called on the United States to avoid "creating
crisis" in the region.
"Certainly what the United States is doing is
disrupting security in the region, and one of the victims of this disruption
will be the United States," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed
Khatibzadeh said on Monday.
Biden declined comment on the strikes in their aftermath on
Sunday. But on Monday, he will meet Israel's outgoing president, Reuven Rivlin,
at the White House for a broad discussion that will include Iran and US efforts
to reenter the Iran nuclear deal.
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