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Biden orders airstrikes against Iranian-backed groups in Syria following attacks near base holding US troops last week
[CNN] President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes against Iranian-backed groups in Syria on Tuesday, a little over a week after a number of rockets struck near a military base in northeastern Syria housing US troops.The airstrikes conducted by the US military targeted Iranian-backed groups in Deir ez-Zor Syria, US Central Command said in a statement. The strikes targeted "infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," Col. Joe Buccino, a spokesman for CENTCOM, said in the statement. "At President Biden's direction, US military forces conducted precision airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor Syria today. These precision strikes are intended to defend and protect US forces from attacks like the ones on August 15 against US personnel by Iran-backed groups," he said, referring to last week's attack on the Green Village base near the Iraqi border. That attack did not result in damage or injuries. Biden, according to the statement, "gave the direction for these strikes pursuant to his Article II authority to protect and defend US personnel by disrupting or deterring attacks by Iran-backed groups." Buccino told CNN the US targeted a group of bunkers used for ammunition storage and logistics support by Iranian-backed groups in Syria. The US military monitored a total of 13 bunkers in the same complex extensively, Buccino said, totaling more than 400 hours of surveillance. The strike was intended to target 11 of the bunkers, since the US could not be certain whether the other two bunkers were clear of people, Buccino said. But shortly before CENTCOM carried out the strike, the military waved off two more of the bunkers because of a small group of people nearby. In the end, Buccino said the military struck nine bunkers in the complex in eastern Syria. The goal of the strike was to destroy the bunkers, Buccino said, and according to an initial assessment, no one was killed as a result. Democrats go war LARPing Related: Deir ez-Zor: 2022-08-21 ISIS Reveals Operations' Outcome In Syria, World In A Week Deir ez-Zor: 2022-08-21 ISIS May Exploit SDF Preoccupation With Turkish Escalation Deir ez-Zor: 2022-08-20 Turkey Cuts Off Water To Syria’s Hasakah For 27th Time Related: Green Village: 2022-08-05 US Air Force charges airman over ‘deliberate’ explosion on base in Syria in April Green Village: 2022-06-22 Air Force service member arrested in connection to insider attack on Syria base that injured 4 Americans Green Village: 2022-06-23 US Air Force serviceman arrested in US for 'DELIBERATELY' setting off explosives by ammo area, showers at Syrian base that injured four soldiersv Posted by: Snash Shairt9621 2022-08-24 |
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