"If You Harm An American, We Will Respond"

"Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing."

"Let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American we will respond."

"[Any American response would not be limited to one hit, but a] tiered response [over time]."

U.S. President Joe Biden 

"We know that there are militants that use these locations, IRGC as well as Iranian-aligned militia group personnel."

"We made these strikes tonight with an idea that there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities."

Lt.-General Douglas Sims, director, Joint Staff

US President Joe Biden, right, stands as an Army carry team moves the transfer case containing the remains of US Army Sgt. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware on February 2. Sanders was killed in a drone attack in Jordan on January 28.

Matt Rourke/AP

 

According to U.S. Central Command the assault made use of over 125 precision munitions. The U.S. planned the strikes, scanning the weather, in order to allow the United States to confirm that its forces hit the right targets while planning to avoid civilian casualties. This was the result of the American military launching an air assault on dozens of sites in both Iraq and Syria.

These are sites known to be used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Friday's assault represented the opening salvo of retaliation for the drone strike last week that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan, wounding scores of others. 

Over 85 targets located at several areas including command and control headquarters, intelligence centres, involved a massive barrage of rockets and missiles, drones to strike at ammunition storage sites along with other facilities connected to the militias or the IRGC's Quds Force. In his announcement to the public President Biden made it clear there would be more to follow.

In the interests of preventing conflict from escalating further, the U.S. strikes appeared to stop just short of targeting Iran directly, or senior leaders of the Revolutionary Guard Quds Force within its borders. What the impact of the strikes will be is unclear. The U.S.  telegraphed warning of the imminence of a response and it was assumed militia members had scattered. Given that multiple groups operate at a number of locations in several countries the assault is not expected to have delivered a wholesale blow.

Kataib Hezbollah, one of the major Iranian-backed militias, had stated its intention to suspend attacks on American troops, while other militias stated their intention to continue fighting in interests of demonstrating themselves as champions of the Palestinian cause in a conflict in Gaza that Hamas atrocities in Israel incited the Israel Defense Forces to invade the Strip with the intention of destroying its ruling Hamas terror group.

According to National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby, the targets to be hit "were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties, and based on clear, irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on American personnel in the region". The strikes took 30 minutes from start to completion. Three sites struck were located in Iraq, and four were in Syria, noted Lt.-Gen.Douglas Sims. 

Syria state media reported casualties without issuing details. In the Syria strikes, reported the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, 18 terrorists died. Yahya Rasool, Iraqi army spokesperson, said the city of al-Qaim and areas along the border with Syria were hit by the airstrikes which "constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, posing a threat that will pull Iraq and the region to undesirable consequences."

As for Iran's President Ebrahim Aaisi, earlier promises by Tehran to retaliate for any American strikes targeting its interests were repeated: We "will not start a war, but if a country, if a cruel force wants to bully us, the Islamic Republic of Iran will give a strong response".

Residents gather around destroyed buildings after US warplanes carried out an airstrike on the headquarters of Hashd al-Shaabi in Al-Qaim city of Anbar, Iraq on February 3.

Hashd al-Shaabi Media Office/Handout/Anadolu/Getty Images