The US carried out two airstrikes against facilities used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and its proxies in eastern Syria early Friday in retaliation for a flurry of recent rocket and drone attacks against US forces in Iraq and Syria.
The strikes by Air Force F-16 jets, against a weapons storage facility and an ammunition storage facility, were intended to send a strong signal to Iran to rein in the attacks the Biden administration has blamed on Tehran’s proxies in Syria and Iraq without escalating the conflict in West Asia, US officials said. The targets, while limited in number, represent an escalation in striking facilities used by Iran’s own forces in the region, not just the militias in Iraq and Syria that Tehran helps to arm, train and equip.
