US approves plan for strikes on Iran-linked targets in Iraq, Syria: Report ---AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

The US has said its military response could be multitiered and take place over several days. The United States has reportedly approved a plan to attack Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the killing of three soldiers five days ago. US broadcaster CBS News reported on Thursday that the White House has approved the targeting of Iranian personnel and facilities inside the two countries in response to the drone attack on Sunday at the Tower 22 base near the border between Syria and Jordan. News | Israel War on Gaza US approves plan for strikes on Iran-linked targets in Iraq, Syria: Report The US has said its military response could be multitiered and take place over several days. Tower 22 This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the Tower 22 base where the three soldiers were killed by a kamikaze drone fired from Iraq [Planet Labs PBC via AP] Published On 2 Feb 2024 2 Feb 2024 The United States has reportedly approved a plan to attack Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for the killing of three soldiers five days ago. US broadcaster CBS News reported on Thursday that the White House has approved the targeting of Iranian personnel and facilities inside the two countries in response to the drone attack on Sunday at the Tower 22 base near the border between Syria and Jordan. It did not provide any further details but said, quoting unnamed US officials, that weather will be a major factor in the timing of the strikes as Washington purportedly wants better visibility to avoid targeting civilians. The attack on the US base was claimed by the umbrella group of US and Israel-opposed armed factions called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. It marked the first time an American soldier was killed since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza. Iran-aligned groups have launched hundreds of attacks on US bases in Iraq and Syria in recent years, but their attacks have only intensified since the start of the war on Gaza and the unwavering US support for it despite international calls for a ceasefire. The Iraqi group is a member of the “axis of resistance” that is backed by Tehran across the region, but Iran maintains that members of the axis decide and act independently and do not take orders from it. US President Joe Biden has vowed a response, which has yet to come five days after the attack. US officials have said their strikes could take place over several days, have multiple targets, and be “sustained over time”. Both Iran and the US have said they wish to avoid escalating the military fallout of Israel’s war, which has spread to include Israel’s border fighting with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping and US and United Kingdom vessels. But Hossein Salami, the commander-in-chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), has warned that Tehran would respond to any US strikes. Reports have also suggested that Tehran and Washington have exchanged messages since the Syria-Jordan border strike, with Iran seriously warning against any attacks on its soil. Hawkish Republican officials in the US have called for direct strikes on Iran, something that is likely to spread the scope of the war. In January 2020, after the US assassinated Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, Iran launched missiles at a US base in Iraq which injured dozens of soldiers but did not kill anyone. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq said Wednesday it would “suspend” military operations against US forces to prevent further embarrassment for the Iraqi government. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington would watch for actions rather than words. Biden is expected at the Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Friday to oversee the transfer of the remains of the three soldiers.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

UP Diliman Professors Share Scientists’ Procurement Struggles at Senate Hearing

By Harvey Sapigao Senate hearing of the revised procurement law (Photo credit: Senate of the Philippines) College of Science (CS) Dean Giovanni Tapang held up a little white device as he finished his presentation. “This is a ₱150,000 component,” he described. “Isa lang gumagawa nito sa buong mundo, pero ang hirap pilitin sila na magregister sa PhilGEPS,” he continued, referring to the requirement that foreign companies must first register to the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) before they can sell products to local scientists. Marine Science Institute (MSI) Deputy Director Dr. Irene Rodriguez explained that the small device is a resin that filters metals in water. “May budget tayo,” she said, “pero ang problema ko ay ‘yung resin na ito.” This and other bottlenecks brought about by the procurement law, or the Government Procurement Reform Act (RA 9184), slow down research and development in the country. UPD leaders were invited to the Senate he
Read more

Gaza war rages into fourth month as Blinken tours Middle East Adel Zaanoun with Ilan Ben Zion in Jerusalem, --- Agence France-Presse

The Israel-Hamas war raging in Gaza entered its fourth month on Sunday as the army again pounded the besieged Palestinian territory and US top diplomat Antony Blinken was back in the region seeking to avoid a wider escalation. Israeli airstrikes overnight and early Sunday killed at least 64 people in the Hamas-run Palestinian territory, said its health ministry. It said two journalists were killed when their car was struck. The ministry, medics, and witnesses identified them as Mustafa Thuria, a video stringer for Agence France-Presse, and Hamza Wael Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Gaza who earlier lost his wife and two other children in an Israeli strike. Israeli bombardment also claimed other civilian lives in the southern city of Khan Yunis and in the Rafah area near the Egyptian border, where many of the territory's displaced people have sought refuge, AFP correspondents reported. Relatives were mourning the dead at Khan Yunis' European Hospital, am
Read more