US launches airstrikes in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for drone attack

The initial strikes by manned and unmanned aircraft were hitting command and control headquarters, ammunition storage and other facilities.

A military base known as Tower 22 in north-eastern Jordan was targeted by a bomb-carrying drone (Planet Labs PBC/AP)

The US military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds force on Friday, in the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan last weekend, officials told The Associated Press.

President Joe Biden and other top US leaders had been warning for days that America would strike back at the militias, and they made it clear it would not be just one hit but a “tiered response” over time.

The strikes by manned and unmanned aircraft hit more than 85 targets, including command and control headquarters, intelligence centres, rockets and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites and other facilities US Central Command said the strikes used more than 125 precision munitions, and they were delivered by numerous aircraft, including long-range bombers flown from the United States. One official said B-1 bombers were used.

The assault came just hours after Mr Biden and top defence leaders joined grieving families as the remains of the three Army Reserve soldiers were returned to the US at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

It was unclear what the next steps will be, or whether the days of US warnings have sent militia members into hiding, making it more difficult to detect and strike them.

But it was evident that the recent statement released by Kataeb Hezbollah, one of the main Iran-backed militias, saying it was suspending attacks on American troops, had no impact on the administration’s plans.

President Joe Biden salutes as he boards Air Force One after attending a casualty return for Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga., Sgt. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga., and Sgt. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga., at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Friday, Feb. 2, 2024. The three were killed in a drone attack in Jordan on Jan. 28. Picture: AP Photo/Alex Brandon

The US strikes appeared to stop short of directly targeting Iran or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds force within its borders.

Iran has denied it was behind the Jordan attack.

In a statement this week, Kataib Hezbollah announced “the suspension of military and security operations against the occupation forces in order to prevent embarrassment to the Iraqi government”.

But Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the other major Iran-backed groups, vowed Friday to continue military operations against US troops.

The US has blamed the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a broad coalition of Iran-backed militias, for the deadly attack in Jordan, but has not yet narrowed it down to a specific group. Kataeb Hezbollah is, however, a top suspect.

Some of the militias have been a threat to US bases for years, but the groups intensified their assaults in the wake of Israel’s war with Hamas following the October 7 attack on Israel.

The war has led to the deaths of thousands of civilians in Gaza and spilled across four other countries now.

Iran-backed militia groups throughout the region have used the conflict to justify striking Israeli or US interests, including threatening civilian commercial ships and US warships with drones or missiles in almost daily exchanges.

An Army carry team salutes the remains of U.S. Army Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Ga., Sgt. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Ga., and Sgt. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Ga., at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Picture: AP Photo/Matt Rourke

On Thursday defense secretary Lloyd Austin said that “this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East”, adding “we will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our interests and our people. And we will respond when we choose, where we choose and how we choose”.

“At this point, it’s time to take away even more capability than we’ve taken in the past,” Mr Austin said.

As of Tuesday, Iran-backed militia groups had launched 166 attacks on US military installations since October 18, including 67 in Iraq, 98 in Syria and now one in Jordan, according to a US military official.

The last attack was on January 29 at at al-Asad airbase in Iraq, and there were no injuries or damage.

The US, meanwhile, has bolstered defences at the base in Jordan that was attacked by the ran-backed militants on Sunday, according to a US official.

The Israeli military said its Arrow defence system intercepted a missile that approached the country from the Red Sea, raising suspicion it was launched by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The rebels did not immediately claim responsibility.

A US official also said the military had taken additional self-defence strikes inside Yemen on Friday against Houthi military targets deemed an imminent threat.

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run satellite news channel, said that British and American forces conducted three strikes in the northern Yemeni province of Hajjah, a Houthi stronghold.

While previous US responses in Iraq and Syria have been more limited, the attack on Tower 22, as the Jordan outpost is known, and the deaths of the three service members has crossed a line, the official said.

That drone attack, which also injured more than 40 service members, largely Army National Guard, was the first to result in US combat deaths from the Iran-backed militias since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out.

Tower 22 houses about 350 US troops and sits near the demilitarised zone on the border between Jordan and Syria. The Iraqi border is only six miles away.