On 28 June, President Biden directed airstrikes against Iran-backed militia groups close to the Syria-Iraq border.[2]F-15 and F-16 aircraft were used to launch the attack in what the US described as a retaliatory attack against US facilities and personnel in Iraq by militia groups.[3][4] Two operational and weapons storage facilities were targeted in Syria, the US military revealed in a statement.[5] Despite the US not disclosing the information regarding the casualties in the attack, the SOHR stated that at least nine Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters died, leaving many others injured.[6] Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran in a statement named four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction they said were killed in the attack on the Syria-Iraq border.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi condemned the air attack as a "blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security".[7] Meanwhile, Syrian state media (SANA) reported that an air missile attack after midnight on residential houses in the countryside of Abu Kamal, presumably by American warplanes, killed a child and injured three civilians.[8]
Aftermath[]
Hours later, US forces in Syria came under fire, following the US strikes on the Syria-Iraqi border.[9] Pro-Iranian militias fired rockets at the American base at Al-Omar Oilfield in Syria in response to US airstrikes.[10]
The US coalition responded by firing heavy artillery on Iranian-backed Militias Positions around Al-Mayadin.[11][12] There were no injuries sustained during the attack, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, Col. Wayne Marotto disclosed.[13][14]
See also[]
List of United States attacks on Syria during the Syrian civil war