President Joe Biden ordered two airstrikes on military facilities belonging to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and proxies in Syria early on Friday, Oct. 27. These measures were in retaliation for recent missile and drone attacks against American forces in Syria and Iraq.
These airstrikes, carried out by two F-16 fighter jets, also intended to send a warning message to Iran. According to Reuters, American and coalition troops were attacked almost 20 times by Iran-backed forces in the region over the past week. Some U.S. soldiers were injured, with the majority of the individuals suffering traumatic brain injuries.
“The United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. forces are unacceptable and must stop,” U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
However, just hours after the airstrikes, proxy forces fought back and launched drone attacks on American troops in western Iraq, according to the New York Times. U.S. air defenses shot down the drone near the Al-Asad Airbase. There are no reported injuries or damage.
The American airstrikes came just a day after Iran’s foreign minister threatened in a speech to the United Nations (U.N.) that the U.S. “will not be spared” if Israel does not stop its defense efforts against Hamas in Gaza. However, a senior defense official said that the U.S. did not coordinate its airstrikes with Israel’s military.
“We have always supported peace and security, but today in New York and the United Nations, I say frankly to the American statesmen who are now managing the genocide in Palestine that we do not welcome an expansion of the war in the region,” Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in his speech.
Amir-Abdollahian also claimed that a “genocide” and “forced displacement of people” is taking place in Gaza. His statements implicitly place blame on the U.S. for the continuation of the war between Israel and Hamas.
Countering Iran’s accusations of Israeli aggression, the Wall Street Journal reported that Hamas fighters trained in Iran in the weeks leading to the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel. In September, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad engaged in military exercises led by officers in the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. These actions demonstrate Iran’s hostility against Israel and, by association, against the U.S.
Both the U.N. speech and airstrikes raise concerns that the war between Israel and Hamas will draw in additional states, resurging instability in the Middle East. However, the right to protect American troops and interests prompted U.S. airstrikes and its defense of Israel.
The U.S. has sent 900 troops to the Middle East amid the growing conflict in Gaza, and it is unknown if more will be deployed as tensions between America and Iran continue to escalate.
