Ilhan Omar Condemns Joe Biden Ordering Air Strikes on Iran-backed Militias

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) has condemned the U.S. air strikes on Iran-backed militias near the Iraq-Syria border on Sunday, which killed at least seven fighters.

The bombardment took place a day before Israel's new president was scheduled to visit U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House. The U.S. carried out three airstrikes on Iranian targets on the border — two landed in Syria and the other landed in Iraq.

"This constant cycle of violence and retribution is a failed policy and will not make any of us safer," Omar said in a Twitter post.

"Congress has authority over War Powers and should be consulted before any escalation."

Omar has been criticized previously for speaking out against attacks against Iran and has condemned U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

In a statement on Sunday night, the Pentagon explained why it had carried out the strikes.

"At President Biden's direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region," Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said.

"The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq. Specifically, the U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those countries. Several Iran-backed militia groups, including Kata'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), used these facilities."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group that closely monitors the Syrian conflict, reported that at least seven Iraqi militiamen were killed in the airstrikes.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi issued a written statement on Monday condemning the attacks.

"We condemn the US air attack that targeted a site last night on the Iraqi-Syrian border, which represents a blatant and unacceptable violation of Iraqi sovereignty and Iraqi national security," he said.

Navy Commander Jessica McNulty told USA Today on Sunday that since April, Iranian militias have launched drone attacks on facilities and buildings used by both the United States and its allies at least five times. She said the recent strikes intended to destroy the militia groups, which she said also fired rockets at U.S. targets.

"Their elimination will disrupt and degrade the operational capacity of the militia groups and deter additional attacks," McNulty said.

Kirby added that the strikes were to protect U.S. personnel, facilities, and "interests" in the region.

"As demonstrated by this evening's strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect U.S. personnel," he said.

"Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks. We are in Iraq at the invitation of the Government of Iraq for the sole purpose of assisting the Iraqi Security Forces in their efforts to defeat ISIS. The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation - but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the US airstrikes "appear to be a targeted and proportional response to a serious and specific threat," adding that "protecting the military heroes who defend our freedoms is a sacred priority."

Meanwhile, the Iranian militias vowed to strike back.

"We said before that we will not remain silent over the continued presence of American occupation forces in Iraq, which goes against the constitution, the Parliament's vote, and the will of the Iraqi people," the Coordinating Committee of the Iraqi Resistance, an umbrella group of Iraqi Shiite militias, said in a statement.

"We in the Coordination Committee of the Iraqi Resistance will avenge the blood of our righteous martyrs from the perpetrators of this heinous crime," the group said. "With God's help, we will make the enemy taste the bitterness of revenge. And if the enemy repeats its aggression, it will see what will not please them."

As well as the United States, Middle Eastern countries including Israel, UAE, and Saudi Arabia see Iran as a major threat in the region.

Iran is indirectly negotiating with the U.S. in Vienna, Austria, in a bid to salvage the 2015 nuclear agreement, which America withdrew from in May 2018 under Donald Trump.

Israeli President Rivlin is due to meet Biden at the White House at 4 p.m. Eastern Time today.