| zeldaring said: Man isreal is so blood thirsty 😒 |
Not just Israel.
US, Canada, UK and more of Europe are all too happy to join in bombing the middle East next to providing the bombs and tank shells.
US conducts more airstrikes in Yemen, shoots down multiple Houthi drones, CENTCOM says
Iraq summons US Chargé d’Affaires in protest over airstrikes
A building is seen destroyed following a US airstrike in al-Qaim, Iraq, on February 3
“In protest against the American aggression that targeted Iraqi military and civilian locations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will summon Mr. David Bircher, the Chargé d’Affaires of the United States Embassy in Baghdad," the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It continued that this is "due to the absence of the American Ambassador, to deliver an official protest note regarding the American aggression that targeted military and civilian locations in the areas of Akashat and Al-Qaim on the evening of last Friday, February 2, 2024."
Iraq says US strikes killed at least 16, including civilians
People stand at the site of a US airstrike in al-Qaim, Iraq, on February 3
US air strikes on Iraq Friday killed at least 16 people, including civilians, and injured 25 others, according to a statement by the Iraqi government spokesperson. The attacks in the Akashat area and the town of Al-Qaim, close to the border with Syria, including sites "where our security forces are stationed, alongside nearby civilian places," the government statement said, calling it "aggression against Iraq's sovereignty."
Local authorities in Anbar province said the airstrikes targeted sites used by militias known as Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashad al Shaabi, including a PMU military base in the Akashat and houses used as weapon warehouses in Al-Qaim. According to the mayor Rutba, Emad Al-Dulaimi, most killed and wounded in the Akashat area are PMU fighters.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the US informed the Iraqi government of its plans before carrying out the strikes. But the Iraqi government has denied that claim, saying the United States is "misleading international public opinion."
The US side "intentionally engaged in deception and distortion of facts, stating coordination with Iraqi authorities for the perpetration of this aggression—an unfounded claim crafted to mislead international public opinion and evade legal responsibility for this condemned act, in violation of international laws," the statement said. The government statement said such attacks "will push the security situation in Iraq and the region to the brink of the abyss, jeopardizing ongoing efforts to establish the necessary stability."
Syria and Iraq warn US airstrikes fuel conflict in the Middle East
Syria has warned that the US strikes that targeted various locations in Iraq and Syria late on Friday "fuel the conflict in the Middle East in a very dangerous way." "[Syria] condemns this blatant American violation [and] it categorically rejects all the pretexts and lies promoted by the American administration to justify this attack," the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday.
The US said it hit 85 targets across seven locations in Iraq and Syria on Friday in response to a deadly drone strike by Iran-backed militants on a US military outpost in Jordan on Sunday. Syria's military said the strikes caused "significant damage" and killed civilians and military personnel. CNN cannot independently verify the number or nature of the casualties.
US airstrikes killed civilians and soldiers and caused "significant damage," Syrian military says
“[The United States] launched a blatant air aggression against a number of sites and towns in the eastern region of Syria, and near the Syrian-Iraqi border, which led to the martyrdom of a number of civilians and soldiers, the injury of others, and the infliction of significant damage to public and private property,” the Syrian Ministry of Defense said in a statement early Saturday.
US lawmakers react to military strikes in Iraq and Syria
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Mike Johnson, a Republican, criticized the military response, writing in part, “The administration waited for a week and telegraphed to the world, including to Iran, the nature of our response. The public handwringing and excessive signaling undercuts our ability to put a decisive end to the barrage of attacks endured over the past few months.”
Senate Armed Services Chairman Jack Reed, a Democrat, praised the response of US President Biden, saying in a statement that “this was a strong, proportional response. In fact, the 85 targets struck tonight mark a greater number than the prior administration.”
Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, a Republican, said, "Finally" and added on X, formerly known as Twitter, "Iran needs to know the price for American lives,"
Biden says US military response "will continue at times and places of our choosing"
"This past Sunday, three American soldiers were killed in Jordan by a drone launched by militant groups backed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). Earlier today, I attended the dignified return of these brave Americans at Dover Airforce Base, and I have spoken with each of their families.
This afternoon, at my direction, U.S. military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack U.S. forces. Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing.
The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond."
Unless you're an American stuck in Gaza...
U.S. citizens, residents, kin stuck in Gaza
https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2023/dec/24/us-citizens-residents-kin-stuck-in-gaza/
The State Department says 300 American citizens, permanent legal residents or their parents and young children are still trapped by the fighting between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza. Relatives in the United States and other advocates are pleading for the Biden administration and Congress to help them flee.
Among them is Fadi Sckak, who has already lost his father to the violence in Gaza and said he wants to help his mother escape that fate."I just want to see my mother again, that's the goal," said Sckak, a university student in Sunnyvale, Calif. The 25-year-old is one of the Palestinian couple's three American sons, including an active-duty U.S. soldier serving in South Korea. "Being able to hold her again. I can't bear to lose her." His mother, Zahra Sckak, 44, was holed up Saturday with an older, ailing American relative in a Gaza City building along with 100 others.
