Illustrative image. (The United States Central Command)
The Pentagon is not planning for a long-term campaign against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its affiliates in Iraq and Syria, the department’s spokesperson said on February 5.
“Our goal is not to OK, game on, let’s just do this and go full-scale war against Iranian proxy groups in Iraq and Syria,” Major General Pat Ryder told reporters. “That’s not what we’re there for. We’re there to conduct the mission and support the defeat of [ISIS].”
The U.S. launched dozens of strikes on Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria on February 2 in response to a drone attack that killed three of its service members and wounded more than 40 others at a base in Jordan known as Tower 22 the previous weekend.
Maj. Gen. Ryder said that “it’s fair to assume” there were casualties in the strikes. However, the Pentagon is not aware right now that any Iranians were killed, he noted.
17 people were reportedly killed in Iraq and 29 others in Syria. Both countries condemned the U.S. attack, saying that civilians were among the casualties.
Following the strikes, Iranian-backed forces, specifically a coalition known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), carried out three attacks, targeting a U.S. base in northern Iraq and two others in eastern and northeastern Syria. The latest attack in Syria claimed the lives of six fighters of the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces.
U.S. officials have repeatedly said the U.S. response to the attack on Tower could involve multiple rounds of military action.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan on February 4 did not even rule out the possibility of the U.S. launching strikes inside Iran.
Attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria began in response to the Israeli war on the Palestinian Gaza Strip. Since October 17, there have been 210 attacks against U.S. forces in the two countries, according to the Pentagon. The IRI claimed responsibility for most of these attacks.
The U.S. attempts to deter the IRI and other IRCG-affiliated forces have clearly failed. More strikes on Iraq and Syria won’t end attacks on U.S. forces. However, a change in Washington stance on the war in Gaza, which has so far claimed the lives of more than 27,000 Palestinians, could.
they can say “no plans at all” and it would be enough.
except of spending money on shadow projects nobody knows what are they about. so pentagon runs untracked projects, spends money which fed printed out of the thin air and u.s. government added to government spending, increasing already huge federal deficit and cia plots some war far away from the u.s. mainland so these weapons can be tested and used in huge numbers.. call it democracy.
fun fact, the us lied about informing the iraqi government of the strikes in iraq.
also, the drone attack in al-omar oil field killed kurdish terrorists that are hand in hand stealing syrian oil. ofc, the kurdish terrorists with the us send the oil to iraq “kurdistan” where people like that subhuman dead kurdish pigs then sent to israel.
all you need to know is the usa, uk, france and israel are not trustworthy. everything they say is bullshit. these people revel in evil and duplicity
lying convincingly is part of a general’s job description.
okupantov z usa treba do posledného vybiť!!! nemajú čo hľadať v sýrii!!! svetu mier!!!