USS Carney firing interceptors at missiles and drones launched from Yemen over the Red Sea on October 19. Source: U.S. Army.
The United States has approved plans for multi-day strikes in Iraq and Syria against multiple targets, including Iranian personnel and facilities, CBS News reported on February 1, citing American officials.
The timing of the strikes will largely be determined by the weather, the officials told the broadcaster, adding that the U.S. military wants clear skies to make sure it does not accidentally hit civilians as it strikes targets.
The strikes are intended to respond to a drone attack over the weekend by an Iran-backed group that killed three U.S. troops and wounded more than 40 others at a base known as Tower 22 on Jordan’s border with Syria.
The attack on the base was claimed by an umbrella group of Iranian-backed factions known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI). It marked the first time an American soldier was killed since the start of the Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
The IRI carried out more than a hundred attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria since the outbreak of the war in Gaza and the unwavering support by Washington for it despite international calls for a ceasefire.
Speaking at the Pentagon on February 1, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that the U.S. won’t tolerate attacks on American troops.
“This is a dangerous moment in the Middle East,” Austin said, noting that Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza and attacks by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on commercial shipping in the Red Sea were also happening in the region. “We will continue to work to avoid a wider conflict in the region, but we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people, and we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose.”
On February 2, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said in a televised speech that his country will “respond strongly” to anyone who bullies it.”
“We will not start any war but if anyone wants to bully us they will receive a strong response,” Raisi said. “Before, when they [the Americans] wanted to talk to us, they said the military option is ‘on the table’. Now they say they have no intention of a conflict with Iran.”
Tehran’s military power has not and will not pose a threat to any country in the region, the president said, adding that Iran’s strength only creates security for the countries around it. Iran has denied involvement in the drone strike in Jordan.
Raisi’s remarks came after hawkish Republican officials in the U.S. openly called for direct strikes on Iran in response to the attack on Tower 22.
Following the deadly drone attack, Kataib Hezbollah, which is believed to be a key faction of the IRI, announced a pause in operations against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. However, a drone attack targeted the U.S. Green Village base in the eastern Syrian governorate of Deir Ezzor on February 1, and the next day several other factions of the IRI vowed to go on with their operations until the war in Gaza is over.
All in all, the U.S. appears to be preparing what it thinks is a calculated response. Still, the situation could easily go out of control, especially if Iranian personnel were targeted.
