On 28 June 2021, President Biden directed airstrikes against Iran-backed militia groups close to the Syria-Iraq border.

F-15E The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high-speed interdiction without rel ...

and

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

aircraft were used to launch the attack in what the U.S. described as a retaliatory attack against U.S. facilities and personnel in Iraq by militia groups. Two operational and weapons storage facilities were targeted in Syria, the U.S. military revealed in a statement. Despite the U.S. not disclosing the information regarding the casualties in the attack, the

SOHR , image = Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Logo.jpg , image_size = 200px , caption = The logo of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights , type = NGO , founded_date = , founder ...

stated that at least nine Iran-backed Iraqi militia fighters died, leaving many others injured. Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran in a statement named four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction they said were killed in the attack on the Syria-Iraq border.

Reaction

Iraqi Prime Minister

Mustafa Al-Kadhimi Mustafa Abdul Latif Mishatat ( ar, مصطفى عبد اللطيف مشتت; born 5 July 1967), known as Mustafa al-Kadhimi, alternatively spelt Mustafa al-Kadhimy, is an Iraqi politician, lawyer and bureaucrat and former intelligence officer who ...

condemned the air attack as a "blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security". Meanwhile, Syrian state media (

SANA Sana may refer to: Places * Sanaa, the capital of Yemen * Sana (river), a river in Bosnia and Herzegovina * Sana, Bhutan, a town in Bhutan * Sana, Haute-Garonne, a commune in France * Sana, Iran, a village in Iran * Sana, Mali, a commune in M ...

) reported that an air missile attack after midnight on residential houses in the countryside of

Abu Kamal Abu Kamal ( ar, أَبُو كَمَال, ʾAbū Kamāl) or Al-Bukamal ( ar, ٱلْبُوكَمَال, al-Būkamāl) is a city on the Euphrates river in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate of eastern Syria near the border with Iraq. It is the administrat ...

, presumably by American warplanes, killed a child and injured three civilians.

Aftermath

Hours later, U.S. forces in Syria came under fire, following the U.S. strikes on the Syria-Iraqi border. Pro-Iranian militias fired rockets at the American base at Al-Omar Oilfield in Syria in response to U.S. airstrikes. The U.S. coalition responded by firing heavy artillery on Iranian-backed Militias Positions around Al-Mayadin. There were no injuries sustained during the attack, the spokesman for

Operation Inherent Resolve Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the U.S. military's operational name for the International military intervention against IS, including both a campaign in Iraq and a campaign in Syria, with a closely-related campaign in Libya. Throu ...

, Col. Wayne Marotto disclosed.

References

2021 in international relations 2021 in the Syrian civil war 2021 in Iraq 2021 airstrikes United States airstrikes 21st-century history of the United States Air Force American airstrikes during the Syrian civil war Attacks in Syria in 2021 Attacks on buildings and structures in 2021 Attacks on buildings and structures in Iraq Attacks on buildings and structures in Syria Military operations of the Syrian civil war in 2021 Deir ez-Zor Governorate in the Syrian civil war Iran–Iraq relations Iran–United States relations Iraq–Syria relations Iraq–United States relations Syria–United States military relations Presidency of Joe Biden {{Syrian-Civil-War-stub

Reaction

Aftermath

See also

References