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The United States on Friday carried out strikes against Iranian forces in Iraq and Syria in retaliation over a drone attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan.
Issued on: Modified:
4 min
Here is what we know so far:
Hitting Iran unit, but not Iran
The US military said the air strikes hit more than 85 targets inside Iraq and Syria targeting both the elite Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and affiliated militia groups.
The US strikes in the west of Iraq killed at least 16 people, including civilians, Iraqi government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said on Saturday.
“The security of Iraq and the region will find itself on the brink of an abyss” because of the strikes, Awadi said in a statement, and denied “false allegations” that there had been “prior coordination” with Washington over the strikes.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said at least 18 pro-Iranian fighters were killed in the strikes in eastern Syria.
The Syrian military issued a statement on Saturday saying that the overnight strikes on its territory killed “a number of civilians and soldiers, wounded others and caused significant damage to public and private property”.
“The occupation of parts of Syrian territory by US forces cannot continue,” it added, affirming the army’s “determination to liberate all Syrian territory from terrorism and occupation”.
Iran on Saturday also condemned the strikes on Iraq and Syria as a “strategic mistake” by its arch-foe, without saying whether or not any they caused any Iranian casualties.
“Last night’s attack on Syria and Iraq is an adventurous action and another strategic mistake by the US government, which will have no result other than intensifying tension and instability in the region,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said in a statement.
Observatory…
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Source : france24
