13 members of Iranian-backed groups killed in US strikes: SOHR

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) – The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) on Saturday reported that 13 members of Iranian-backed groups were killed in airstrikes that are believed to be carried out by US forces in the countryside of Deir ez-Zor.

“The airstrikes destroyed 17 positions sheltering Iranian militias in Al-Mayadeen (the capital of Iranian militias in Syria) and Al-Bokamal near borders between Syria and Iraq, in addition to airstrikes targeting positions near Deir Ezzor City,” SOHR said.

The U.S. military forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups, U.S. CENTCOM confirmed on Saturday.

Read More: U.S. military forces strike more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria: CENTCOM

The U.S. military said they struck more than 85 targets in both Iraq and Syria.

The strikes are a retaliation for the death of three U.S. Army Reserve soldiers at a remote US base in Jordan by a drone attack carried out by an Iranian-backed Iraqi militia group. 

The Friday strikes are part of an anticipated air campaign that is set to be launched against the IRGC and its affiliated forces in the coming weeks, per US officials.

Following the retaliatory strikes, Biden issued a statement in which he affirmed, “Our response” to the attacks “began today,” and “it will continue at times and places of our choosing.”

That statement was repeatedly echoed by John Kirby, National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, who briefed reporters, alongside Sims, later that day.

Kirby also provided the strongest expression of any Biden administration official in explaining the administration’s objective in the retaliatory strikes that had just occurred.

“We want the attacks to stop,” Kirby said. “We want them to stop right now.”