American forces have been attacked four times by Iranian-backed groups since the U.S. conducted an air strike on an Iranian facility in Syria on Wednesday.
The total number of attacks on U.S. troops since October 17 now stands at 46, including 24 in Iraq and 22 in Syria, Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told the press Thursday, according to CNN. Explosive drones and rockets were used in the attacks, which began after war erupted between Israel and the terrorist organization Hamas.
On Wednesday night, militants with Iranian support launched two assaults on U.S. and coalition forces at Omar Oil Fields near Mission Support Site Green Village in Syria, as well as a one-way “suicide” drone assault on forces at Mission Support Site Euphrates, Syria, CNN reported. Three U.S. soldiers suffered injuries in one of the attacks on Green Village, Singh added. Two of the three service members suffered traumatic brain injuries, and the third was left with a much more minor condition. The fourth attack happened on Thursday morning, when a drone hit troops at Al-Asad Airbase in Iraq.
On Wednesday, U.S. jets struck a weapons facility used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Iran has been accused of financing Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which marked the most brutal massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. The IRGC is a designated terrorist group, according to the U.S. as well as many Western powers and regional allies, including the European Union, Canada, and Saudi Arabia.
“If these attacks continue against our personnel, we won’t hesitate at a time and place of our choosing to respond again,” Singh told the press.
The air strike put the IRGC facility out of commission, Singh said. “We were able to render that building pretty much non-usable,” she said.
Before the Wednesday defensive strike, U.S. forces were attacked twice, first by multiple one-way drones in Bashur, Iraq, and then by a rocket attack in Shaddadi, Syria, CNN said. The Houthis, a group based in Yemen which Iran also sponsors, shot down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drone before Wednesday.
In October, the U.S. Air Force dispatched two F-16 fighter jets to target military infrastructure in eastern Syria linked to the IRGC as well as its regional proxies. Among the properties targeted were a weapons cache and an ammunition storage facility.
Some Republicans in Congress have blasted President Biden for what they believe has been a lukewarm response to the militant groups’ attacks on U.S. forces, as well as to Israel’s current crisis.
“The message to terrorists must be clear: attacks on U.S. servicemembers, assets, and interests will not be tolerated,” Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement obtained by the Hill. “Hitting a storage facility should not be the final response by the U.S.”
Multiple GOP presidential candidates, such as former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, have sounded the alarm on the growing threat that Iran poses as it continues to bankroll terrorist groups that seek to target the U.S.
Singh said the U.S. has been returning the attacks on troops proportionately while being intent on preventing the regional conflict from snowballing.
“We want to make sure we can contain this conflict to Israel and Hamas, and we have not seen this conflict widen,” Singh said. “We are sending a message, and I think the message has been received.”