US approves strike plan against Iranian forces

The United States has approved a plan to launch a series of strikes against Iranian targets in Iraq and Syria in response to the attack on the al-Tanf base, CBS reports. The exact timing of the attacks will depend on the weather to avoid civilians being hit.

Washington has approved plans for a series of strikes over several days against Iranian targets in Iraq and Syria in response to attacks on American troops in the region, including a drone attack on the Tanf base that killed three soldiers and injured more than a dozen, CBS reported. News officials in the US.

They say the weather will be a major factor in the timing of strikes: Despite the ability of US forces to carry out attacks in bad weather, they "prefer to have better visibility of the selected targets" to ensure that those accidentally straying into the area at the last moment are not hit. civilian.

According to the channel, after the Shiite militant group Kataib Hezbollah announced the day before that it was suspending operations against the US military, there were no new attacks on US forces.

However, CBS's interlocutors did not clarify whether the announced suspension of attacks would delay US retaliatory strikes.

They said another drone was shot down over the Gulf of Aden overnight, and a maritime drone carrying explosives was destroyed in the Red Sea. The Yemeni Houthi group, which is backed by Iran, has carried out attacks in the Red Sea since November 2023 as an expression of support for the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the war with Israel.

Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin said at a briefing after the CBS publication that the United States seeks to avoid widening the conflict in the Middle East, but Washington will take “all necessary actions” to protect the country, its citizens and interests. “We will respond where we decide, when we decide and how we decide. Our answer will be multi-step. And again, we have the opportunity to respond multiple times depending on the situation,” he said.

Regarding the announcement of the suspension of Kataib Hezbollah operations, Austin said the United States is closely monitoring not only the words, but also the actions of “Iraqi radicals.” The Pentagon chief also rejected consideration of the withdrawal of US troops from Syria in light of the escalating situation in the region.

On January 30, Politico wrote that the United States intends to respond to the attack on the al-Tanf military base by striking Iranian personnel in Syria or Iraq or Iranian naval facilities in the Persian Gulf. The newspaper's interlocutors reported that the plan is awaiting the approval of President Joe Biden, the strikes will begin a couple of days after its approval and will be carried out in waves against several targets.

Former US Middle East peace negotiator Aaron David Miller said the US response risked "provoking a real regional war". “They know that Iran cannot afford a direct conflict with the United States, but it could pit Hezbollah completely against Israel or American assets, and that could lead to a spiral,” he warned.

On January 28, the US Central Command reported that as a result of an attack by an unknown drone, the American army suffered losses - three soldiers were killed and 25 more were injured. This was the first time since the beginning of the October escalation in the Middle East that the Pentagon admitted its losses. The Tower 22 outpost of the al-Tanf base, one of the main operating bases of the US Army for operations in Syria, came under attack.

According to Reuters, 34 US troops were injured in the attack. Agency sources clarified that the drone exploded near the barracks, which explains the large number of casualties.

In the United States, responsibility for the attack was attributed to the Islamic Resistance of Iraq group, which includes Kataib Hezbollah. Biden said "radical militant groups operating in Syria and Iraq and backed by Iran" were behind the attack. He promised a response to the attack, noting that he was not seeking “a major war in the Middle East.”

Asked by reporters if he believed Iran was responsible for the attack, Biden said Iranian authorities were "supplying weapons to the people who did this." Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani argued that "resistance groups in the region" do not take orders from Iran and the country does not influence how the Iraqi Islamic Resistance decides to "support the Palestinian nation or defend itself and the people of its country from any aggression." .