By Theodore Shoebat
The US government decided to drop a bomb on a tiny cluster of buildings on the Syrian-Iraqi border which were being utilized as a means to deploy Iran backed terrorists and transport weapons. American officials have already explained that the strike was simply a demonstration of American power. Reportedly the Pentagon spoke of other (larger) targets, but Biden only wanted to do the smallest show of force.
According to Pentagon press secretary John Kirby, the airstrike“specifically destroyed multiple facilities located at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militia troops, including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada … This proportionate military response was conducted together with diplomatic measures, including consultation with coalition partners… The operation sends an unambiguous message: President Biden will act to protect American and coalition personnel.” The strike was a response to a terrorist rocket attack last month that hit the airport in Erbil and killed one civilian contractor with the American-led coalition and wounded six others, including an American service member and four other Americans.
The US government, according to Kirby, wanted to punish the terrorists without exasperating hostilities with Iran since the Biden administration wants to restart discourse on renewing the Iran Deal that Trump shutdown. “We have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both eastern Syria and Iraq,” Mr. Kirby said. According to the Military Times:
U.S. forces struck multiple targets in eastern Syria used by Iranian-backed militant groups at around 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, the Pentagon press secretary confirmed to reporters, in retaliation for recent rocket attacks against bases in Iraq housing U.S. and coalition troops and civilians, including one that injured an American service member and killed a civilian contractor.