Defying US warnings, militias in Syria and Iraq have promised to continue their attacks.
Al-Mayadeen News said on Sunday that four US bases in Iraq and Syria have been targeted in a day by militias backed by Iran. In a futile attempt to dissuade the militias, US forces conducted airstrikes against Iranian objectives in both countries before to the attacks.
According to the Lebanon-based news channel Al-Mayadeen, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq declared on Sunday that it had fired rockets at another American camp in the al-Omar oil field near Deir ez-Zor and used two drones to target the al-Shaddadi base in eastern Syria on Saturday.
Al-Mayadeen’s sources claimed that subsequent explosions within the facility were caused by the hit on the al-Omar site. Additionally, according to the channel’s sources, missiles were fired against an American outpost in northeastern Syria’s Kharab al-Jir.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said that its fighters had targeted the US outpost at al-Tanf, which is close to the borders with Jordan and Syria.
Iraqi militias with ties to Iran and Hezbollah are collectively referred to as the Islamic Resistance. Al-Mayadeen was informed by one of these factions, the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades, that the strikes are a reaction to US backing for Israel’s continuous air and military offensive against Gaza.
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Since Hamas militants started their surprise attack on Israel on October 7, the militias have attacked US outposts in Iraq and Syria almost every day. US President Joe Biden said that locations in eastern Syria were utilised by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and “affiliated groups,” leading to the US launching airstrikes against them on Thursday. All of the bases that were hit on Friday and Saturday had already been targeted several times in the week prior.
US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby issued a warning after the airstrikes, saying that if American outposts were attacked again, US forces would “not hesitate to take further actions in our own self-defense.”
As per an earlier Al-Mayadeen report, the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades declared on Thursday that they are prepared to engage in “a war of attrition against the enemy that will extend for years,” defying Washington’s warning.
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Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi disclosed to Al Jazeera on Saturday that the US had warned the various anti-US and anti-Israel groups operating in the Middle East to desist in a message they received. Raisi continued, “Washington received a practical and public answer on the ground.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on Friday that the militias act on their own initiative, but Iran denies authorising strikes against US sites. He did issue a warning, saying that “new fronts will be opened up against the United States if it continues what it has been doing so far.”
