American strikes targeted the headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq (Al Jazeera - Archive)

Yesterday, Friday, American forces launched strikes on sites they said were belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Quds Force in Syria and Iraq, in response to the killing of 3 American soldiers in an attack targeting a military base in northeastern Jordan, amid warnings of dragging the region into war.

The US Central Command announced that the strikes were carried out by aircraft launched from the United States, including long-range bombers, noting that more than 125 precision-guided missiles were used.

It added that the targeted facilities are command, control and espionage centers and storage sites for missiles and drones.

The White House said that the strikes carried out on Friday targeted 3 facilities in Iraq and 4 in Syria, stressing that "the American response began tonight (yesterday) and will not end tonight."

According to Iraqi security sources, the American bombing targeted weapons stores and headquarters of the Popular Mobilization Forces in the Dur al-Sikak area in Al-Qaim in Anbar Governorate, the headquarters of the Anbar Operations Command of the Popular Mobilization Forces, the medical headquarters and other headquarters in the Akashat area adjacent to Al-Qaim district.

An Iraqi security source said that 3 soldiers and two civilians were killed and about 15 others were injured, as a preliminary toll of the American bombing.

In Syria, the American bombing targeted sites in Deir ez-Zor, where Syrian official television said that American warplanes targeted the village of Ayyash in the western countryside of the city.

In the governorate center, local sources said that strikes targeted both Hawija Saqr, downtown Deir ez-Zor, and Deir ez-Zor Military Airport.

In the eastern countryside of Deir ez-Zor, the American bombing targeted the Al-Tammo neighborhood in the city of Al-Mayadeen and the Al-Shibli and Ain Ali areas in its vicinity. In the desert of Homs Governorate in central Syria, the aircraft targeted the third pumping station in the desert of the city of Palmyra.

As for the Syrian-Iraqi border, the strikes came on the Al-Hajjana neighborhood, west of the city of Al-Bukamal, and on the village of Al-Hari in its vicinity. Local sources told Al Jazeera that some of the targeted sites belong to the Fatemiyoun and Zainabiyoun factions, which are supported by Iran.

Part of the American attacks on Iraq (social networking sites)

For its part, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq said that it targeted the American Al-Tanf and Green Village bases in Syria with a drone and missiles.

Syrian official television also said that fire broke out inside the US forces base in the Koniko gas field northeast of Deir ez-Zor following a missile attack that targeted it.

US President Joe Biden said that the targeted facilities are being used by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and its affiliated militias to attack American forces, adding that “our response that began today will continue at the times and places we choose,” following the attack that took place in Jordan last Sunday, which resulted in the killing of 3 American soldiers.

Biden - who participated yesterday, Friday, in the ceremony to receive the bodies of the three soldiers - stressed that his country “does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world,” but he continued, saying, “Let everyone who may seek to harm us know that we will respond.”

American forces in the Middle East are facing escalating attacks with missiles and drones against the backdrop of their support for Israel in its war on Gaza.

For his part, Yahya Rasoul, spokesman for the Commander-in-Chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces, said that the American strikes are a violation of sovereignty and undermine the efforts of his country’s government, which seeks to ensure the stability of the region, as he put it.

Rasoul added that these strikes "threaten to drag Iraq and the region into undesirable consequences" and that their consequences will be "dire" for security and stability.

Source: Al Jazeera