Washington:
The US military has struck two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday.
“The precision self-defense strikes are in response to a series of sustained and largely unsuccessful attacks on U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militias that began on October 17,” he said in a statement.
One U.S. citizen died during the attacks from a cardiac incident and 21 U.S. service members suffered “minor injuries, but have all since returned to duty,” Austin added.
The attacks in Syria follow a direct warning earlier Thursday from President Joe Biden to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against attacks on US forces, the White House said on Thursday.
“A direct message was passed on. That’s as far as I’ll go,” John Kirby, spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council, told reporters, but declined to say how it was conveyed.
In his statement, Austin sought to distance the attacks on facilities used by the IRGC in Syria from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas members in Gaza.
“These narrowly tailored, self-defense attacks were intended solely to protect and defend U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria,” he said.
“They are separate from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, and do not represent a change in our approach to the conflict between Israel and Hamas,” he added.
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