© Reuters. US Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin attends a welcome ceremony earlier than an annual safety assembly with South Korean Defence Minister Shin Gained-sik on the Defence Ministry in Seoul, South Korea on November 13, 2023. JUNG YEON-JE/Pool through REUTERS
By Phil Stewart and Hyunsu Yim
SEOUL (Reuters) – U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday left open the potential of extra strikes towards Iran-linked teams if assaults towards American forces in Iraq and Syria do not cease, hours after in a single day U.S. air strikes in Syria.
The U.S. army carried out its third air strike in as many weeks in Syria late on Sunday, concentrating on a coaching facility close to the town of Albu Kamal and a protected home close to the town of Mayadeen.
The strikes got here after at the least 40 assaults towards U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed forces in latest weeks, as regional tensions mount over the Israel-Hamas conflict. At the very least 45 U.S. troops have suffered traumatic mind accidents or minor wounds.
“These attacks must stop, and if they don’t stop, then we won’t hesitate to do what’s necessary, again, to protect the troops,” Austin advised reporters at a information convention in Seoul.
Austin mentioned the newest air strikes in japanese Syria focused amenities utilized by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and associated teams.
“These strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the freedom of action of these groups, which are directly responsible for attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria,” Austin mentioned.
America has 900 troops in Syria, and a pair of,500 extra in neighboring Iraq, to advise and help native forces attempting to stop a resurgence of Islamic State, which in 2014 seized giant swathes of each international locations however was later defeated.
There’s rising concern that the Israel-Hamas battle may unfold by the Center East and switch U.S. troops at remoted bases into targets of heavier weaponry than the smaller rockets and one-way drones seen to date.
America has deployed further air defenses and despatched warships and fighter plane to the area because the Israel-Hamas battle erupted on Oct. 7, together with two plane carriers, to attempt to deter Iran and Iran-backed teams.
The variety of troops added to the area is within the hundreds.
Reuters has reported that the U.S. army was taking new measures to guard its Center East forces throughout the ramp-up in assaults by suspected Iran-backed teams, and was leaving open the potential of evacuating army households if wanted.
The measures embrace growing U.S. army patrols, limiting entry to base amenities and boosting intelligence assortment, together with by drone and different surveillance operations, officers say.
It was nonetheless unclear whether or not anybody was killed within the newest U.S. strikes in Syria. A U.S. official, talking on situation of anonymity, mentioned a U.S. assessment was below means.
