U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it began airstrikes around 4 p.m. ET in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force “and affiliated militia groups.”
“U.S. military forces
struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from the United States,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions.”
CENTCOM said it hit command and control operations, intelligence centers, rockets, missiles and unmanned aerial vehicle storages and munition supply chain facilities used by militia groups and the IRGC.
Along with the IRGC, the
U.S. was expected to target the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of militias backed by Iran. The Islamic Resistance claimed responsibility for the Jordan attack, and the U.S. earlier this week attributed the attack to it.
President Biden released a statement after the strikes were announced Friday noting that he had attended the return of the three soldiers killed in Jordan earlier in the day at Dover Air Force Base.
“This afternoon, at my direction, U.S. military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack U.S. forces,” he said.
“
Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” he added. “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”
The strikes are part of an operation that several U.S. officials suggested would involve a tiered response.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
