Last Friday, American fighter jets launched attacks on targets in Iraq, Syria and Yemen (French)

The US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) said on Monday that it was likely that there were deaths in US strikes last Friday on targets it said were linked to Iran in Iraq and Syria, but it added that it was still assessing the situation.

Pentagon spokesman General Patrick Ryder added to reporters that American forces in Syria had been subjected to two attacks since last Friday's strikes, but without any casualties among American forces.

He pointed out that the United States' military response to the attack on its forces in northeastern Jordan has not yet been completed, and that his country "knows that Iran provides funding, equipment, and training to the groups that attack our forces." He stressed that he has no information about the killing of any Iranians in the strikes.

Regarding the strikes in Yemen, Ryder indicated that they targeted 36 Houthi sites, including weapons depots and air defense systems. He added, "The strikes aim to weaken the Houthis' ability to attack ships and disrupt navigation in the Red Sea."

He vowed, "If the Houthis continue their attacks on ships in the Red Sea, we will continue to strike their positions to weaken their capabilities."

Contradiction between the State Department and the Pentagon

In a related context, the US State Department said yesterday, Monday, that the United States did not inform the Iraqi government in advance of strikes it recently launched against targets of factions it said were loyal to Iran in Iraq, clarifying statements by the White House that stated the opposite.

US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said in a statement to reporters, "With regard to Friday's response, we informed the Iraqi government immediately after the strikes occurred."

But he pointed out that "the Iraqi government, like all countries in the region, understood well that there would be a response after the killing of American soldiers."

On Friday, the United States launched strikes in Syria and Iraq against targets of Iranian elite forces and armed factions that it confirmed were loyal to Iran, in response to the attack on January 28 that killed 3 American soldiers in Jordan, near the Syrian-Iraqi border.

Iraq and Syria condemned these strikes, and Baghdad considered them a "violation of Iraqi sovereignty" and handed over a "memorandum of protest" to the US Chargé d'Affairs in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

US National Security Council spokesman in the White House, John Kirby, said in a statement to reporters on Friday evening that Washington had informed the Iraqi authorities “before” the strikes, which angered Baghdad.

On Monday, Kirby said, “I responded according to the information that was available to me at the time.”

While Kirby acknowledged that the statement was not as accurate as expected, he expressed his regret "for any confusion that may have resulted."

Kirby continued, "We did not hide from Iraqi officials and others that we would respond to attacks targeting our forces. Indeed, we officially informed Iraq of this, in accordance with the appropriate procedural requirements."

It seems that Washington was keen to issue this clarification and confirm that it did not inform Baghdad in advance of any military operations, given the extreme sensitivity that currently characterizes relations between the United States and Iraq.

The United States deploys about 2,500 American soldiers in Iraq as part of a coalition established in 2014 to combat ISIS.

In the context of regional tensions exacerbated by the war launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip, Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani began talks with Washington regarding the fate of the coalition in order to set a timetable for a gradual withdrawal.

American forces and international coalition forces in Iraq and Syria have been subjected to more than 165 attacks since mid-October.

These attacks, many of which were claimed by the “Islamic Resistance in Iraq,” an alliance of Iranian-backed armed factions that oppose American support for Israel in the war in Gaza and the presence of American forces in the region, have intensified since October 7.

Source: Agencies