- LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
- Two US warplanes hit Syrian weapons and ammunition facilities
- Airstrikes not coordinated with Israel, US defense official says
- The US wants Iran to withdraw its militias and proxies
Oct 27 (Portal) – Two U.S. warplanes struck weapons and ammunition facilities in Syria on Friday in retaliation for attacks by Iranian-backed militias on U.S. forces, as fears grew that the Israel-Hamas conflict is spreading to the Middle East could expand east.
US President Joe Biden ordered attacks on the two facilities used by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and militias it supports, the Pentagon said, warning the US will take additional action if attacks by Iranian proxies continue.
U.S. and coalition troops have been attacked by Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria at least 19 times in the past week. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Lebanon’s Hezbollah are all supported by Tehran.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told the United Nations on Thursday that if Israel’s offensive against Hamas does not stop, the United States “will not be spared from this fire.”
The US airstrikes took place around 4:30 a.m. Friday in Syria (01:30 GMT) near Abu Kamal, a Syrian town on the border with Iraq, and were carried out by two F-16 fighter jets armed with precision munitions U.S. government carried out, a defense official said.
“These precision self-defense strikes are in response to a series of sustained and largely unsuccessful attacks by Iranian-backed militia groups on U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria that began on October 17,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in a statement.
“These Iran-backed attacks on U.S. forces are unacceptable and must stop,” Austin said.
Biden sent a rare message to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warning Tehran against targeting U.S. personnel in the Middle East, the White House said Thursday.
“We want Iran to take very concrete action and order its militias and proxies to withdraw,” said a senior US defense official. The U.S. did not coordinate the airstrikes with Israel, the official added.
Israel said on Friday that military raids in the Gaza Strip would prepare “the next phase of the operation”, raising fears that a ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave could trigger a wider Middle East conflict.
Israel bombed the densely populated Gaza Strip following the Hamas attack on Israeli communities on October 7th. According to Israel, Hamas killed around 1,400 people, including children, and took more than 200 hostages, including infants and older adults.
The Hamas-controlled health ministry in the Gaza Strip said on Thursday that 7,028 Palestinians, including 2,913 children, had been killed in the retaliatory airstrikes.
Portal could not independently verify the tolls.
A rocket fired as part of fighting between Hamas and Israel hit an Egyptian resort about 220 km (135 miles) from the Gaza Strip early Friday, Egypt’s Al Qahera News reported, citing sources.
The rocket hit a medical facility in Taba, injuring at least six people, Al Qahera TV reported. A witness in Taba confirmed hearing an explosion and seeing smoke rising, but Portal could not immediately identify the source of the blast.
Taba lies on the Egyptian border with the Israeli port of Eilat on the Red Sea. The Israeli military said it was aware of a security incident outside its borders.
Portal could not immediately confirm the reports.
ISRAEL SAYS BEATS HAMAS COMMANDER
Israel said on Friday that its warplanes had struck three senior Hamas operatives from the Daraj Tuffah Battalion of the Gaza City Brigade. Israel said the three commanders played a significant role in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
There was no official announcement from Hamas.
Hamas-affiliated media reported that Palestinian militants clashed with Israeli troops in at least two areas of the Gaza Strip on Friday.
According to reports, Israeli military vehicles raided the central area of Al-Bureij and clashes broke out between troops and militants near the border. According to reports, Hamas fighters exchanged fire with Israeli troops in the south, in a border area near the city of Rafah.
Portal could not immediately confirm the reports.
As the plight of Palestinian civilians grows increasingly desperate, the question of whether to impose humanitarian pauses or ceasefire agreements in the Hamas-controlled coastal enclave will come before the 193-member UN General Assembly on Friday in a draft resolution put forward by Arab states calling for a ceasefire .
Unlike the Security Council, where resolutions on Gaza aid failed this week, no country has veto power in the General Assembly. Resolutions are non-binding, but have political weight.
“To say that the humanitarian situation in Gaza is catastrophic is an understatement. Everything needed for life is missing or dwindling by the hour in Gaza,” said Mamadou Sow, head of the regional delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
It is estimated that more than 613,000 people were left homeless by the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip and were housed by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
The USA is sending more troops
Governments in the West and Middle East fear a larger regional conflict could develop if Israel continues its bombing of the Gaza Strip or launches a ground invasion in response to Hamas’s surprise attack.
Israel and Lebanon-based Hezbollah have already engaged in firefights, and Israel has attacked the Syrian army’s infrastructure and airports.
The US has sent warships and fighter jets to the region in the last three weeks. On Thursday, the Pentagon said about 900 more US troops had arrived or were heading to the Middle East to bolster air defenses for US personnel.
As for Israel, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, asked at a press conference about the possibility of a confrontation with Iran, said Israel had “no interest in expanding the war.”
(This story has been re-archived to correct the spelling of “Corps” in paragraph 2)
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi, Tala Ramadan, Emily Rose, Adam Makary, Jeff Mason, Phil Stewart, Michelle Nichols, Gabriela Baczynska and Andrew Gray; writing by Grant McCool and Michael Perry; Editing by Cynthia Osterman, Simon Cameron-Moore and Raju Gopalakrishnan
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