The Pentagon launched hellfire bombings in Syria and Iraq on Friday, supposedly as retaliation against recent drone strikes by Iran that reportedly killed 3 American soldiers on Sunday.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that seven facilities were targeted that had been involved in initiating the attacks on U.S. soldiers. The targets included intelligence facilities, command and control ops, missiles, rockets and drone storage locations.
“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”
Kirby said that the strikes were “based on a clear, irrefutable evidence they were connected to attacks on U.S personnel in the region.” He has refused to give any numbers of the people who were killed in the attacks.
“We made these strikes tonight with an idea that there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities,” Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II said.
The Iraqi army stated that the bombing campaign in their country was a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty” and “a threat that will drag Iraq and the region into unforeseen consequences.”
Yahya Rasool Abdullah, a spokesperson for the Iraqi Armed Forces, said the “strikes come at a time when Iraq is striving to ensure the stability of the region.”
Even though Iraq is being drawn into the conflict, Biden’s Pentagon officials maintain that they are conducting these bombing campaigns in the name of peace.
“We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in a region, but we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people,” Austin said at a Thursday press conference to reporters at the Pentagon.
Iran is denying any involvement in the drone strikes killing Americans, but they maintain they will not be pushed around by U.S. aggressors.