The U.S. struck targets in eastern Syria and western Iraq Feb. 2 that it claimed were involved in the threats on U.S. military bases in the region, including the Jan. 28 attack on the U.S. Tower 22 base in Jordan. The targets were hit at about midnight local time (GMT+3), 4 p.m. EST. The strikes came within a few hours after President Joe Biden’s participation in the arrival ceremony in Delaware for the remains of the three Americans who were killed in the Tower 22 attack. “Our response began today,” Biden said in a statement issued later by the White House. “It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”
At the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin reported specifics, and announced that the aim was Iran. “U.S. military forces today conducted strikes on seven facilities, which included more than 85 targets in Iraq and Syria, that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated militias use to attack U.S. forces. This is the start of our response. The President has directed additional actions to hold the IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on U.S. and Coalition Forces.”
