The targets hit by the US airstrikes in Syria on Tuesday were important facilities for Iran-linked groups operating in the country, Voice of America reported, as the US President Joe Biden said the operations were conducted to defend American personnel and to disrupt a series of attacks against the United States and its partners.
The US military announced late Tuesday that it was conducting an operation against “infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards” in eastern Syria.
“Today’s strikes were necessary to protect and defend U.S. personnel. The United States took proportionate, deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize the risk of casualties,” said Colonel Joe Buccino, US CENTCOM Communication Director.
Iran denied having any link to the sites targeted by the US, but the islamic regime has a significant military presence in the Syria-Iraq border regions, VOA reported, adding that the facilities hit by the US are military depots used in Iran’s military activities in the region.
“These military depots are strategically important for Iran as they provide access to both countries on the Syria-Iraq border,” said Omar Abu Leyla, director of the Deir ez-Zor 24 group, which monitors developments in eastern Syria.
“Iran relies on these facilities to launch attacks on American forces stationed on the east bank of the Euphrates river,” Abu Layla said.
He also said that his own sources have “confirmed that several shipments have arrived from Iran, including UAVs and medium-range missiles,” at the warehouses that were hit by the United States.
Syrian journalist Bashir al-Abbad told the US-funded Al Hurra television that the targets hit by the US in Deir ez-Zor were “large warehouses of 80 buildings located in a desert area south of the town of Ayyash.”
Divided into two by the Euphrates river, Deir ez-Zor is under the control of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces in the east and the regime forces supported by Iran and Russia in the west.
The US has around 900 troops in northeastern Syria as part of the global coalition against ISIS militants.
Source:gerceknews
