Politics

US bombs Iran-backed militia positions in Syria, Iraq

Washington, Jun 27 (EFE).- The United States military bombed positions of Iran-backed militias in Syria and Iraq on Sunday at the orders of President Joe Biden, the Pentagon reported.

US forces carried out “defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region” on Sunday evening, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement in which no casualties were mentioned.

The airstrikes were carried out against weapons storage and operations centers, two of them in Syria and one in Iraq.

“The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq,” Kirby said.

Kata’ib Hezbollah and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada were two of the “several” groups using the facilities, he added.

The spokesman stressed that “President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel.”

“Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting US interests in Iraq, the president directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks,” Kirby said.

He recalled that the forces of his country are in Iraq at the invitation of the Baghdad government to help defeat the Islamic State terror group.

Upon his return to the White House on Sunday after spending the weekend at Camp David, Biden did not answer questions from journalists about the attacks and said that he will speak about it on Monday.

These are not the first such bombings ordered by the Biden government.

In February, the US military struck a position of two pro-Iranian militias in Syria in response to rocket fire at US soldiers in the region. EFE

ssa/tw

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