The US carried out two airstrikes against facilities used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and its proxies in eastern Syria early Friday in retaliation for a flurry of recent rocket and drone attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria.

The strikes by Air Force F-16 jets, against a weapons storage facility and an ammunition storage facility, were intended to send a strong signal to Iran to rein in the attacks the Biden administration has blamed on Tehran’s proxies in Syria and Iraq without escalating the conflict in West Asia, US officials said. The targets, while limited in number, represent an escalation in striking facilities used by Iran’s own forces in the region, not just the militias in Iraq and Syria that Tehran helps to arm, train and equip.

“These precision self-defence strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups,” defence secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.

“The US does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against US forces are unacceptable and must stop,” Austin said.

Since Hamas’ surprise attack against Israel on October 7, President Joe Biden and his aides have sought to contain the war between Israel and Hamas and prevent it from spilling over into a regional conflict with Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

To that end, the US has deployed two aircraft carriers to the eastern Mediterranean near Israel and dozens of additional warplanes to the Persian Gulf region to deter Iran and its proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq from engaging in a regional war.

The Pentagon has also rushed additional Patriot antimissile batteries and other air defenses to several Gulf nations to protect US troops and bases in the region.

But with the near-daily attacks against US forces over the past 10 days — the Pentagon’s tally climbed to at least 19 by late Thursday — pressure had been mounting on the US to respond militarily.

New York Times News Service