“Protect Americans at home and abroad.” Biden explains to Congress the reasons for the US raids in Syria
US President Joe Biden confirmed Friday that the US will do whatever it takes to protect Americans, following US military attacks on pro-Iranian militias in response to an attack that killed an American contractor and wounded six others, including five. American soldiers.
In a message to the Senate and House of Representatives, Biden made it clear that attacks by Iranian militias have endangered the lives of US personnel and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.
The US president said he had ordered US forces to launch “targeted” attacks on facilities in eastern Syria, facilities used by groups affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard to store ammunition and other targets.
Biden indicated that these attacks occurred with the aim of deterring these militias, reducing the risks of escalation and avoiding civilian casualties, stressing that they have weakened any efforts to launch attacks against the United States and its partners, and deter Tehran and its affiliates. militias
He added that he directed the implementation of this military action in accordance with his responsibility to protect US citizens at home and abroad and enhance the national security of the United States, stressing that the series of attacks launched by the US military are consistent with international law and the right of the United States to defend itself.
On Friday, the US Department of Defense (Pentagon) confirmed the implementation of “precision strikes” in eastern Syria, targeting two facilities used by groups affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The US strikes came as a “response” to a drone strike that targeted a “maintenance facility at a coalition forces base near Hasakah in northeastern Syria,” killing “a contractor and wounding five US soldiers and another US contractor,” according to the Pentagon.
