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The United States said Friday it sought to degrade ammunition supplies of Iranian-linked militias with strikes in Syria but insisted it did not want to widen the Middle East conflict.
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The Pentagon on Thursday announced air strikes on two sites in eastern Syria it said were used by Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after a string of attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
“The purpose for those two sites that we targeted was to have a significant impact on future IRGC and Iran-backed militia group operations,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday.
“It went right at storage facilities and ammo depots that we know will be used to support the work of these militia groups, particularly in Syria.”
“The main goal was to disrupt that ability and also to deter — to prevent — future attacks,” he said.
The White House earlier said that President Joe Biden had relayed a direct warning to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against militias’ strikes on US troops in Syria and Iraq, where US forces are stationed as part of efforts against the Islamic State group, which also has clashed with Shiite Iran.
One US citizen contractor died from a cardiac incident during the attacks, and 21 US military personnel suffered minor injuries, according to the Pentagon.
It was the first US strike on Iranian interests since March, breaking a stretch of calm after the Biden administration opened quiet diplomacy with the US arch-enemy that led to a prisoner swap and conversations on Iran’s disputed nuclear program.
The October 7 assault by Hamas and Israel’s retaliatory strikes have inflamed the region. Iran’s clerical leaders back Hamas, while the United States is the foremost ally of Israel.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a statement Thursday, said that…
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Source : france24
