The United States on Thursday carried out its first military action under President Biden, aimed at infrastructure used by Iranian-backed militant groups in Syria in response to recent rocket attacks in Iraq. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters traveling with him that he had recommended the strike to Mr. Biden, who authorized it in a phone call Thursday morning.
“The operation sends an unequivocal message: President Biden will act to protect U.S. coalition personnel,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement. Militias supported by Iran for years they have been targeting U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, most recently in a rocket attack in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil last week that injured four contractors Americans and a member of the military service.
The strikes destroyed several facilities at a border checkpoint in Al Bukamal, Syria, used by several Iranian-backed militant groups, including Kataib hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada, according to Kirby.
The Pentagon spokesman did not mention any casualties, but the UK-based monitoring group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said on Friday that 22 people had died in the strikes, which they said had hit three trucks carrying ammunition from Iraq to Syria.
The organization, which relies on an extensive network of field sources in Syria and generally provides reliable information, said all the dead were believed to be members of Iran-backed militias, most of them of Kataib Hezbollah. The Observatory said the death toll is likely to rise as some of the injured were in serious condition. Sources in the group said that immediately after the strikes, Iranian-backed groups rushed to evacuate several sites in Al Bukamal, for fear of further US attacks.
Carefully chosen goal
In the first military strike of his presidency, Mr Biden approved a target along the Syrian-Iraqi border that would serve as a reward for Iran endangering U.S. personnel, but stop increasing tensions with Tehran as it tries to lure the Islamic Republic into the the 2015 nuclear deal collapses.
An administration official confirmed that Biden’s team had selected the targets as part of a calibrated response aimed at achieving three things: Send a signal to Iran that the new US president would not tolerate attacks from rockets endangering American personnel; avoid angering American partners in Iraq who need to maintain good relations with both Tehran and Washington, and avoid provoking Iran to retaliate more.
Two former Trump administration officials told CBS News that the Al Bukamal area has been the target of dozens of Israeli attacks in recent months because it serves as a transshipment point for Shiite-backed militias. Iran, both in Syria and Iraq. Both officials acknowledged the location selection approved.
One former official said, “It’s easier to send messages there because we’re less exposed.”
The Biden administration’s strike against Iran-backed militias continues after the first diplomatic diffusion in Iran as for the American hostages in the country, as well as their public offer made through European diplomats to restart talks on Tehran’s nuclear program. Both diplomatic initiatives were made last week.
Last week, a rocket attack in Erbil, northern Iraq, killed a contractor who was not a U.S. citizen and injured four U.S. contractors and a member of the U.S. service. A total of eight contractors were injured, two serious enough to require evacuation.
The United States had evidence that the attack was carried out with equipment supplied by Iran. The attack on Erbil consisted of 14 rockets, with six more left in the launcher lane.
The most recent air strike against Iran-backed militias was in December 2019, which achieve goals in both Iraq and Syria. There was no immediate response from Iranian officials to the U.S. strike on Thursday.
Eleanor Watson and Tucker Reals contributed to the reports.