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U.S. Defending Personnel and Interests From Iran-backed Proxies
The United States has begun its response to the killing in late January of three American service members in Jordan by Iran-backed militias. The U.S. forces are in the region as part of a coalition dedicated to the defeat of ISIS. On February 2, the United States conducted airstrikes on 85 targets in Iraq and Syria that have been used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated groups to attack U.S. forces.
“This is the start of our response,” said U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in statement. “The President has directed additional actions to hold the IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on U.S. and Coalition Forces.”
At a press briefing, Pentagon Spokesperson Major General Pat Ryder described the facilities used by the IRGC and related militias targeted in the U.S. strikes:
“Command and control operation centers, intelligence centers, rockets, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, storage, and logistics, and munitions supply chain facilities ... Our focus here is on attacking capabilit[ies] that have been used by these groups.”
In a separate defensive move against Iran-backed proxies, on February 3 the United States and the United Kingdom, with support from a coalition of allies, conducted another series of proportionate attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen. The defensive action, the third time the coalition hit targets inside Yemen, is a response to the months-long Houthi attacks on international shipping and U.S. naval vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The United States also took unilateral actions in self-defense to destroy missile launchers and unmanned surface vessels preprepared for employment by the Houthis. “The focus here,” said Major General Ryder “is disrupting and degrading their abilities to conduct these kinds of attacks.”
“We continue to call on them to stop immediately but if they don't, we will continue to take appropriate actions to not only defend international shipping and mariners transiting the Red Sea, but also continuing to degrade and disrupt their capabilities,” he said.
Major General Ryder emphasized the United States does not seek to escalate conflict in the Middle East. The U.S., he said, reiterates its calls on Iran to cease supporting the destabilizing actions of its proxies. And, Major General Ryder warned, “We'll continue to take appropriate action to protect our forces.”