As worries mounted that the Israel-Hamas conflict may extend throughout the Middle East, two US fighter aircraft attacked weapons and ammunition installations in Syria on Friday in reprisal for strikes on US soldiers by an Iranian-backed militia.
According to the Pentagon, US President Joe Biden issued an order for strikes on the two locations that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and militia utilise. He also threatened to take more action if Iran’s proxies continued their attacks.
Iran-backed fighters have targeted US and coalition soldiers in Iraq and Syria at least 19 times in the last week. Tehran supports Islamic Jihad, Hamas, and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Hossein Amirabdollahian, the Iranian Foreign Minister, stated on Thursday at the UN that if Israel’s attack against Hamas did not halt, the western country will “not be spared from this fire”.
“These precision self-defence strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement. “These Iranian-backed attacks against US forces are unacceptable and must stop,” he added.
The White House announced earlier on Thursday that Biden had warned Tehran not to attack US forces in the Middle East in an unusual communication to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.
A senior US defence official stated, “What we want is for Iran to take very specific actions, to direct its militias and proxies to stand down.” The official went on to say that the US did not coordinate the airstrikes with Israel.
Amid fears that a ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave may lead to a larger confrontation in the Middle East, Israel said on Friday that military operations into Gaza were preparing “the next stage of the operation”. Israel launched bombardments on the heavily populated Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas offensive on Israeli settlements on October 7.
2,913 children were among the 7,028 Palestinians who perished in the retaliatory airstrikes, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is under the leadership of Hamas.
Israel announced on Friday that three top Hamas operatives in the Gaza City Brigade’s Daraj Tuffah Battalion had been hit by its fighter jets. According to Israel, the three commanders were heavily involved in the attack on the country on October 7.
According to media connected with Hamas, Israeli forces and Palestinian militants engaged in combat in at least two locations within the Gaza Strip on Friday.
