US To Continue Responding To Iranian Proxy Attacks As “Necessary”
A senior United States defense official said on Monday that the U.S. military would continue to respond to attacks from Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria and Iraq when deemed necessary to protect itself.
In a briefing, the official said that U.S. and coalition forces were attacked at least 14 separate times in Iraq and nine separate times in Syria, through a mix of one-way attack drones and rockets, for a total of 23 attacks between October 17 and October 30. “Many of these attacks were successfully disrupted by our military. Most failed to reach their target, thanks to our robust defenses.”
The official said that they would be looking into reports from local activists and media organizations linked to Iranian proxies that U.S. positions in Deir-ez-zor had come under attack earlier on Monday.
In response to a question, the official said that Iran’s strategic objective was to force U.S. forces to withdraw from the region, with U.S. responses to proxy attacks intended to deliver messages to the Iranians about U.S. willingness to use force. “We’re going to continue to respond when the president decides that’s necessary for U.S. force protection”.
The Department of Defense had disclosed last week that 21 U.S. soldiers in the region had suffered minor injuries after their bases were attacked by proxies, but most have since returned to duty. A U.S. citizen contractor died of a heart attack during a false alarm at al-Asad Air Base in Iraq.
The official denied that the U.S. had been responsible for an apparent airstrike on Iranian proxies in the Syrian border town of Al-Bukamal over the weekend. “There are no additional U.S. strikes to confirm at this time. If we do undertake self-defense strikes, we would publicly report it”, said the official.
The U.S. Air Force had previously conducted airstrikes with F-16s on IRGC facilities near Al-Bukamal on October 26. The official described those airstrikes as “proportionate, focused, precision self-defense strikes.” “We reserve the right to respond at a time and place of our choosing, and we’re going to continue to do so.”