Iranian targets targeted, what we know this Saturday morning

Hit Iranian targets, but not Iran

The White House said US warplanes struck a total of 85 targets in seven separate locations – three in Iraq and four in Syria – and that the operation was a “success”. American armed forces targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Iranian regime’s ideological army, its elite Quds Force, and pro-Iranian armed groups. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) reported that at least 18 pro-Iranian fighters were killed in the attack on eastern Syria.

According to security sources, positions of pro-Iranian armed groups in western Iraq, on the border with Syria, were bombed. Baghdad condemned the “violation of Iraqi sovereignty”, while the United States claimed it had “warned the Iraqi government before the strike”. 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 a January 2020 strike in Baghdad that killed Qasem Soleimani, the former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East. – East. The US president declared on Friday that “the United States does not want conflict in the Middle East or anywhere in the world” and the White House reiterated after the attack that it does not want “war” with Iran. Has not maintained diplomatic relations since 1980.

How is the United States responding?

Joe Biden, campaigning for a second term, pledged on Sunday to respond to the deaths of three American soldiers killed in a drone strike in Jordan near the Syrian border, where 350 troops are stationed as part of the fight against the Daesh group. His body was brought back on Friday.

The US has pointed the finger at Iraqi armed groups backed by Iran. American forces in Iraq and Syria have faced at least 165 drone strikes or rocket attacks since mid-October, but Sunday was the first time American troops have lost their lives, according to an official.

How did we get here?

Regional tensions have continued to rise following bloody attacks against Israel by Iran-backed Hamas and continued Israeli bombing of 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 Islamic Movement from spreading to Lebanon and the conflict between Iran-backed Israel and Hezbollah.

But Washington, backed by London, has resorted to military action since October 7 against pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen who have been launching attacks against merchant or military ships in the Red Sea.

And now?

Joe Biden warned that the United States’ “response” “started today” and “will continue according to the schedule and at the locations” that Washington determines “(a)”. “We do not want to see another attack on American positions or military personnel in the region,” the White House National Security Council warned.