The White House: President Biden ordered strikes on three sites in Iraq
The White House: President Biden ordered strikes on three sites in Iraq
2023-12-26 21:02
Shafaq News/ The White House announced, on Tuesday, that United States President Joe Biden had directed air strikes on three sites belonging to Kataib Hezbollah and its affiliated groups in Iraq, in response to the attack that targeted a military base in Erbil and resulted in the injury of three American soldiers.
The White House said in a statement that US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, briefed President Biden in a phone call on Monday afternoon about the incident, and several options were presented to the president, and Biden ordered the strikes during that call.
The statement added that the strikes focused on “drones activities,” indicating that groups affiliated with the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades focused in particular on drone activities.
Earlier today, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that US forces had launched strikes on three facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah and its affiliated groups in Iraq.
Austin said, in a statement, “These precision strikes are a response to a series of attacks against American personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-sponsored militias, including an attack by Iran’s Kataib Hezbollah Brigades and its affiliated groups on the Erbil air base that resulted in one casualty.” 3 Americans, one of whom is in critical condition.”
He added, “We will not hesitate to take the necessary measures to defend the United States, our forces, and our interests, and there is no higher priority than that.”
The US Secretary of Defense continued by saying, “While we do not seek to escalate the conflict in the region, we are fully committed and prepared to take further measures necessary to protect our people and our facilities.”
The armed Shiite factions escalated their attacks on the military bases of the international coalition forces led by the United States of America in Iraq and Syria after the events of October 7 in Palestine (the Al-Aqsa flood).
900 American soldiers are stationed in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq on a mission that the United States says aims to advise local forces and assist them in trying to prevent ISIS from re-emerging after it seized vast areas in Iraq and Syria in 2014 before being defeated.
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