US carries out air raids on Iran-backed militias in Syria, Iraq

The United States said on Sunday it carried out a round of air raids against Iran-backed armed groups in Iraq and Syria, in response to drone attacks against US personnel and facilities in Iraq, with the militias threatening to retaliate.

In a statement, the US military said it targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq. It did not say whether it believed anyone was killed or injured, but the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least five fighters were killed and several others wounded.

The attacks came at the direction of President Joe Biden, the second time he has ordered retaliatory attacks against Iran-backed militia since taking office five months ago. Biden last ordered limited bombing against a target in Syria in February, that time in response to rocket attacks in Iraq.

“As demonstrated by this evening’s strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, who is in Baghdad, said the attacks were “significant” and noted that the groups targeted were threatening to retaliate.

“After this threat we might see an escalation against military facilities,” he said.

The attacks came even as Biden’s administration is looking to potentially revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. Critics have said Iran cannot be trusted and have pointed to the drone attacks as further evidence that Iran and its proxies will never accept a US military presence in Iraq or Syria.

Biden and the White House declined to comment on the attacks on Sunday.

Lawrence Korb, a former US assistant secretary of defense, says the raids could “very definitely” be seen as Biden “serving notice” on Iran.

“The first time he used military force was about a month after he was inaugurated,” Korb told Al Jazeera. “I think it was no accident that he did it then to send that signal to Iran. The fact that he’s doing it now while they are about to undergo the seventh round of the talks on the JCPOA is him saying: ‘Just because we are there, it doesn’t mean we are going to ignore it (other issues)’.”

Since the start of the year there have been more than 40 attacks against US interests in Iraq, where 2,500 American troops are deployed as part of an international coalition to fight what remains of the ISIL (ISIS) group.

The vast majority have been bombs against logistics convoys, while 14 were rocket attacks, some of them claimed by pro-Iran factions that aim to pressure Washington into withdrawing all their troops.

The attacks came one day after Iraqi Kurdish officials said three explosives-laden drones hit near the northern Iraqi city of Arbil, where the US has a consulate.

It also occurred as the Hashed al-Shaabi, a pro-Iran paramilitary alliance opposed to the US presence in Iraq, held a military parade near Baghdad attended by senior officials.

Two US officials, speaking to the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity, said Iran-backed militias had carried out at least five drone attacks against facilities in Iraq used by US and coalition personnel since April.

The Pentagon said the facilities targeted were used by Iran-backed militia including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.

One of the facilities targeted was used to launch and recover the drones, a defence official said.

The US military used F-15 and F-16 jet fighters in the raids and said the pilots returned safely.