US strikes Iran-backed militias in Syria in latest round of retaliation
This was the first wave of retaliatory US strikes against Iran-backed militias acknowledged by CENTCOM in several months.
WASHINGTON — The US military launched airstrikes against what it said were nine Iran-linked militia targets in Syria on Monday in response to a spate of recent attacks on US bases in the country since yesterday.
US Central Command, the Pentagon's subsidiary headquarters for the Middle East, said its forces "conducted strikes against nine targets in two locations associated with Iranian groups in Syria in response to several attacks on US personnel in Syria over the last 24 hours."
"These strikes will degrade the Iranian-backed groups' ability to plan and launch attacks on US and coalition forces who are in the region to conduct D[efeat]-ISIS operations," CENTCOM said in a press release.
"Our message is clear. Attacks against US and coalition partners in the region will not be tolerated," the top US commander in the region, US Army Gen. Michael "Erik" Kurilla, said in the readout. "We will continue to take every step necessary to protect our personnel and coalition partners and respond to reckless attacks," Kurilla's statement continued.
US CENTCOM has not revealed any details of the alleged attacks. Al-Monitor has reached out to the command for clarity on the strikes and the attacks that prompted them.
Why it matters: It was the first wave of US strikes against the militias acknowledged by the US military in several months, as the Biden administration has sought to avoid fueling a heady cycle of retaliation between, on one side, Iran and the panoply of armed militias it backs throughout the Levant region and, on the other, the United States and Israel.
US aircraft previously launched strikes on what CENTCOM described as more than 85 Iran-linked paramilitary and local militia targets and killed Kataib Hezbollah's top commander for Syria in a Baghdad drone strike in February.
What's next: Iranian officials have vowed to retaliate against Israel and potentially the United States for Israel's latest strikes inside Iranian territory, which disabled the country's Russian-supplied S-300 air defenses, Al-Monitor previously reported.
But US defense officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity said they do not see evidence that Iran intends to go ahead with another overt attack against Israel. The prior two bouts of direct Iran retaliation against Israel, consisting of missile and drone barrages on Oct. 1 and April 13, were largely shot down by Israeli air defenses supported by US and other allied militaries.
Late last month, the US military said it bombed ISIS positions in the remote central Syrian desert, targeting ISIS "senior leaders" at "known ISIS camps." Although the US and local militias captured ISIS' final territory at the Battle of Baghouz in eastern Syria in March 2019, ISIS attacks have risen in both Syria and Iraq over the past year as Russia and the US military have diverted assets to other priorities.
Know more: Al-Monitor's Elizabeth Hagedorn has the rundown on what the Biden administration can — and probably can't — accomplish in its final days in office.
