Middle East Escalation toward WW3! Biden challenges Iran with US Strikes on Syrian IRGC Bases
In the cover image a pair of US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles fly over northern Iraq following airstrikes on Syria, September 23, 2014. © US Air Force / Senior Airman Matthew Bruch
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The U.S. launched strikes on Iranian-linked targets in Syria on Thursday in retaliation for a series of drone attacks on American military bases in the region, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
It should be remembered that the military actions against the American bases occurred following ongoing tensions over the protection offered by the USA to Israel which intensified its bombings in Syria after the escalation of the war with Hamas in Gaza and after some mysterious terrorist attacks by extremists Sunni jihadists, protected by Turkey and NATO as enemies of the Damascus government of Shiite president Bashar Al Assad.
Not only. Also in the past, President Biden had ordered the US Air Forces to strike the Iranian Pasdaran positions in Syria, which played a fundamental role as allies of the Syrian and Russian armies in the defeat of ISIS, also causing casualties among civilians.
Pentagon: “US strikes Syria in ‘self-defense”
“Today, at President Biden’s direction,” Austin said, “U.S. military forces conducted self-defense strikes on two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups. These precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17.”
The U.S. military action comes amid rising tensions in the region over the conflict in Israel. Austin called the attacks “separate and distinct from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas” and said they don’t represent a shift in the U.S. approach to the conflict.
From Oct. 17 to Tuesday, U.S. and coalition forces were attacked at least 10 separate times in Iraq and three times in Syria by a mix of drones and rockets, the Defense Department has said. On Oct. 18, at least two one-way attack drones targeted al-Tanf military base in southern Syria, U.S. Central Command said. On the same day, there were two separate drone attacks against U.S. and coalition forces stationed at al-Asad base in western Iraq.
US involved in the Middle East War Escalation: Dozens American Military Wounded in Iraq, Syria
Austin said, “As a result of these attacks, one U.S. citizen contractor died from a cardiac incident while sheltering in place; 21 U.S. personnel suffered from minor injuries.” All those injured have since returned to duty, he said.
Extract by NBC News
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US Defense Secretary: “The United States does not seek conflict”
“The United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against US forces are unacceptable and must stop,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement on Thursday.
“Iran wants to hide its hand and deny its role in these attacks against our forces. We will not let them. If attacks by Iran’s proxies against US forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people.”
Austin said the “narrowly-tailored strikes” were in self-defence and were not connected to the Israel-Hamas war. “They are separate and distinct from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, and do not constitute a shift in our approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict,” he said.
Reported attacks on US forces in the region have spiked since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war, which began earlier this month when the Palestinian group launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that Israeli officials say killed more than 1,400 people.
Palestinian authorities say more than 7,000 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza carried out in response to Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
On Wednesday, Biden said he had directly warned Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against targeting US troops in the Middle East.“My warning to the ayatollah was that if they continue to move against those troops, we will respond, and he should be prepared,” Biden told reporters, adding it has “nothing to do” with Israel.
Washington and Tehran do not have formal diplomatic relations, and Biden did not say how the message was communicated.
Mohammad Jamshidi, an aide to Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi, disputed Biden’s account in a comment posted on social media. “The US messages were neither directed to the leader of the Islamic Revolution nor were they anything but requests from the Iranian side,” he said.
“If Biden thinks he has warned Iran, he should ask his team to show him the text of the messages.”
US officials are concerned about the possibility of fighting between Israel and Hamas escalating into a broader regional conflict.
Iran backs both Hamas, which governs Gaza, and the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, which Israel has clashed with in skirmishes along the Israel-Lebanon border. On Thursday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said at the United Nations that the US would “not be spared from this fire” if Israel’s bombardment of Gaza did not end.
Extract by Al Jazeera
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Iran: “US will not be Spared if Israel-Hamas war Escalates”
The US will “not be spared from this fire” if Israel’s “genocide” against the Palestinian people continues, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian told the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday.
“I say frankly to the American statesmen and military forces who are now managing the genocide in Palestine, that we do not welcome the expansion of the war in this region,” Amir-Abdollahian said in his address.
“But I warn [that] if the genocide in Gaza continues, they will not be spared from this fire,” he continued. “This is our home and West Asia is our region. We do not compromise with any party and any side and have no reservations when it comes to our home’s security.”
US President Joe Biden has pledged that Washington will “stand forever” with Israel, and is currently pushing Congress to authorize a $14 billion package of military aid for the Jewish state. Meanwhile, the US has positioned two aircraft carrier groups and other naval assets, a squadron of F-16 fighter jets, air defense systems, and 900 troops to the Middle East since Hamas militants launched their surprise attack on Israel on October 7.
Biden and his officials have declared that these deployments are intended to dissuade Iran from getting involved in the conflict, either directly or by instructing Hezbollah forces in Lebanon. Tehran, however, has argued that Washington’s full-throated backing of West Jerusalem makes escalation more likely.
“It’s a great shame that the American president announced that the US would dispatch hundreds of planes, ships and trucks filled with military equipment to the occupied territories to support the mass murder that Israel is committing in Gaza but has managed to coordinate plans for only 20 trucks carrying humanitarian aid to enter the besieged enclave,” Amir-Abdollahian said on Sunday.
“Origin of US Weaponry used by Hamas must be Investigated” American & Russian Politicians said
“If the US and the Israeli regime do not stop their crimes against humanity immediately, there will be a possibility of anything at any moment and the region may spin out of control,” he added.
Speaking to Al Jazeera last week, Amir-Abdollahian cautioned that an Israeli ground operation in Gaza – which the Israeli military has been preparing to launch for weeks – would result in “many other fronts being opened.”
Originally published by Russia Today
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