US strikes hit Iran-backed militia facilities in Iraq and Syria

The Guardian
Mon, 28 Jun 2021 01:09 UTC

© US Air Force/AFP/Getty Images

Airstrikes target operational and weapons storage facilities of Iran-backed militia.

The US has launched airstrikes against sites linked to Iranian backed militias in Iraq and Syria, in response to drone attacks against US interests in Iraq.

The attacks mark the second time Joe Biden has authorised attacks against Iranian proxies since he was sworn in as president in January and are the first since hardline Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi was elected earlier this month.

They follow a spate of drone attacks on US bases that officials in Baghdad and Washington believe were launched by Iranian proxy groups, which have been increasingly active over recent months, testing the authority of the Iraqi leadership as well as US willingness to confront them in the lead up to the resumption of talks to restart the nuclear deal.

Pentagon officials said the strikes, carried out on Sunday, targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that closely monitors the Syrian conflict, reported that at least five Iraqi militiamen were killed.

Comment: The SOHR is a shell organization consisting of a one-man operation based in the UK - a mouthpiece for propaganda.

See: Russia denies accusations of carrying out airstrikes in Idlib, Syria

Biden has adopted a much less confrontational stance than his predecessor, Donald Trump, who in early 2020 ordered the assassination of powerful Iranian general, Qassem Suleimani, and Iraqi militia leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, after a round of rocket attacks on US bases and an attempted storming of the US embassy in Baghdad.

Comment: Understandings between Trump and Iranian leadership, at the time of the Suleimani attack, were in play.

The Pentagon press secretary, John Kirby, described the airstrikes as "defensive", saying they were launched in response to an

"ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting US interests in Iraq. The United States took necessary, appropriate and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation - but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message."

Biden had only once before authorised military action in the region. In February, the US launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.

The Pentagon said those strikes were in retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq in February that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a US service member and other coalition troops.

Israel, meanwhile, has carried out dozens of airstrikes on the Iraqi-Syrian border, and dozens more inside Syria, in what it says is a campaign to stop Iran entrenching it's interests in the region through proxies.

In February, Biden said Iran should view his decision to authorise airstrikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support of militia groups that threaten US interests or personnel.

On Sunday, Kirby said:

"Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting US interests in Iraq, the president directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks. As a matter of international law, the United States acted pursuant to its right of self-defense. The strikes were both necessary to address the threat and appropriately limited in scope."

Comment: Accusations, posturing and denials from all sides have not brought clarity to the attacks:

"We condemn the US air attack that targeted a site last night on the Iraqi-Syrian border, which represents a blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security," a statement from Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi's office said on Monday, stressing that the nation refuses to become the arena for third parties to settle their scores. The military also promised to carry out all the investigations and procedures needed to avoid such incidents in the future.

The US military said in a statement: "As demonstrated by this evening's strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel."

While the US military did not elaborate whether anyone was killed or injured in the attacks, Iraqi militia groups have confirmed that at least four members of Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada militia were killed in the strikes.

Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh warned Washington against "creating crisis" in the region, stating it would ultimately backfire on the US itself. "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."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has defended US airstrikes on Iranian-backed militia targets either side of the Iraq/Syria border, claiming they were "necessary" and "appropriate" to send a "clear" message to these groups. Blinken's "message" was likely aimed at Tehran as much as the militias themselves.

Iraq's Shiite-dominated Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) denied on Monday any presence of arms depots at the positions struck by the US Air Force on the country's border with Syria.

"As a result of the airstrike, four soldiers, who were carrying out the routine task of preventing the penetration of IS terrorists (banned in Russia) from Syria to Iraq, have been killed ... They were not involved in any activity against foreign forces in Iraq," the statement obtained by Sputnik read, adding that "there were no depots in the militia positions that were hit by the airstrike".