The United States carried out strikes targeting elite Iranian forces and pro-Iranian groups in Iraq and Syria, in retaliation for a drone attack in Jordan which killed three American soldiers on January 28. Here's what we know at this point.

  • Hit Iranian targets, but not Iran

The White House said US warplanes targeted a total of 85 targets at seven different locations – three in Iraq and four in Syria – and that the operation was a "success". The American armed forces targeted the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the ideological army of the Iranian regime, its Quds Force which is its elite unit and pro-Iranian armed groups.

At least 18 pro-Iranian fighters were killed by these strikes on eastern Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) reported. According to security sources, positions of pro-Iran armed groups in western Iraq, on the Syrian border, were bombed. Baghdad denounced a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty”, while the United States claimed “to have warned the Iraqi government before the strikes”.

Also read Who are the Hezbollah Brigades accused of having killed American soldiers in Jordan?

Joe Biden did not order strikes on Iran as some Republican opponents demanded. The Democratic leader also apparently did not target Iranian officials as his predecessor Donald Trump did in January 2020 by killing Qassem Soleimani, former architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, in a strike in Baghdad. -East.

The American president declared Friday that "the United States does not want conflict either in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world" and the White House repeated after the strikes that it did not want a "war" with Iran with which they have no longer maintained diplomatic relations since 1980.

  • What is the United States responding to?

Joe Biden, campaigning for a second term, pledged to respond to the death, Sunday January 28, of three American soldiers killed by a drone strike in Jordan, near the Syrian border, where 350 soldiers are stationed in the part of the fight against the Islamic State group. Their bodies were repatriated on Friday.

The United States has pointed the finger at Iraqi armed groups supported by Iran. American forces in Iraq and Syria have suffered at least 165 drone attacks or rocket attacks since mid-October, according to an official, but Sunday was the first time that American soldiers lost their lives.

  • How did we get here ?

Regional tensions have continued to rise since the bloody attack by Hamas, supported by Iran, against Israel, followed by incessant Israeli bombings on the Gaza Strip.

Through its diplomacy and its military presence in the region, the United States has been trying for nearly four months to prevent the conflict between the Jewish state and the Palestinian Islamist movement from spreading to Lebanon and to a conflict between Israel and Hezbollah supported by Iran.

See alsoIran: in Washington's sights?

But Washington, with the support of London, has resorted to military action since October 7 against the pro-Iranian Houthi rebels in Yemen who are launching attacks against merchant or military ships in the Red Sea.

  • And now ?

Joe Biden warned that the United States' "response" had "started today" and that "it will continue according to the schedule and in the places" that Washington "decides".

“We do not want to see another attack against American positions or military personnel in the region,” warned the White House National Security Council.

Many experts in Washington believe that Iran will not take the risk of a direct conflict with the world's leading power but that it has strengthened itself since the war in Gaza and its support for Hamas by rallying more support in the Arab world.

“The occupation of certain parts of Syrian territory by American forces can no longer continue,” the Syrian army said on Saturday, affirming its “determination to liberate the entire Syrian territory from terrorism and occupation.”

The American strikes resulted in "the deaths of a number of civilians and soldiers, injuries to others and significant damage", according to the same army statement.

With AFP

The France 24 summary of the week

invites you to look back at the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 application