On Friday, the Pentagon detailed the U.S. firepower to destroy a complex in Syria that was allegedly used by an Iran-backed militia as the White House defended the legality of the strike against a bipartisan reaction.
“Two F-15E Strike Eagles dropped seven precision-guided ammunition, completely destroying nine facilities and partially destroying two facilities, making them functionally destroyed,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news conference. .
“The structures were located at the entry checkpoint of Abu Kemal’s terrorist, located near the border between Syria and Iraq, on the Syrian side. This location is known to facilitate the activity of the group of allied militias. Iranians “.
A second facility was scheduled to be hit in President Biden’s first military attack, but that mission was aborted when drones revealed possible civilian casualties, Fox News reports.
Kirby said the U.S. government has not yet determined the number of casualties caused by the seven 500-pound bombs, but acknowledged local reports of deaths.
Asked about the message he intended to send to Iran, Biden, who was traveling to Texas on Friday, said, “You can’t act with impunity.” He paused and added, “Be careful.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki, who was traveling with Biden to Houston, told reporters aboard Air Force One that Biden had legal authority to order the strike.
Members of both sides in Congress criticized Biden’s decision and noted that in 2017 Psaki criticized then-President Donald Trump for bombing Syria.
She tweeted then, “what is the legal authority for strikes? … Syria is a sovereign country. “
Psaki told reporters that Biden ordered the strike to send “an unequivocal message that he will act to protect Americans.”
“As a matter of domestic law, the President took this action in accordance with his Article Two authority to defend U.S. personnel, targets were chosen to … match recent attacks on facilities. and deter the risk of further attacks in the coming weeks, “Psaki said.
“As a matter of international law, the United States acted in accordance with its right to self-defense, as reflected in Article 50-1 of the Charter of the United Nations. Strikes were necessary to make in the face of the threat and were proportionate to previous attacks. “
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that the strike was in retaliation for a Feb. 15 rocket attack on a U.S. military base at Erbil International Airport in northern Iraq. he killed a military contractor and wounded an American soldier.
Under Trump and former President Barack Obama, U.S. military action in Syria was justified under the authorization of the 2001 military force against Al Qaeda and the 2002 legislation that allowed the invasion of Iraq, despite that opponents said they disagreed with the fact that these provisions provide legal basis.