“Three Americans were killed, three soldiers; “Three families are now grieving,” Kirby told “Fox News Sunday.” “The president is not going to sit back and take this idly by. “We are going to respond.”
Kirby said that President Biden had agreed to smaller strikes in response to previous attacks on American sites, and that he would not leave the killing of the three soldiers unanswered. Soldiers – Sgt. William Rivers, 46; Sgt. Breonna Moffitt, 23; And Sgt. Kennedy Sanders, 24, was killed on January 28 when a one-way attack drone crashed into sleeping quarters at a small outpost in northeastern Jordan near the border of Syria and Iraq.
The Pentagon said that the strikes carried out on Friday night hit about 85 targets across Iraq and Syria, prompting the Iraqi government to summon senior US diplomat David Pecker and issue a formal note of protest. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said that civilians were killed in the strikes and that Iraq did not want to be an arena for “settling scores between rival countries.”
These statements highlight the difficult balance that Washington and Baghdad are trying to maintain at a time when armed factions, armed and trained by Iran, are pressuring the United States to leave Iraq.
The Pentagon has about 2,500 US troops in Iraq at the invitation of the government in Baghdad to prevent the resurgence of ISIS. About 900 additional American soldiers are deployed in Syria to carry out a similar mission.
The United States and Britain on Saturday also launched a new wave of attacks in Yemen, hitting nearly 35 targets linked to the Houthi militants who took control of much of the country in 2014. For months, Houthi fighters have attacked US commercial ships and warships in Yemen. The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Like militias in Iraq and Syria, the Houthis linked their attacks to the war in Gaza and US support for the Israeli government. US officials said they were also receiving weapons and training from Iran.
There were signs over the weekend that the attacks would continue.
In Syria, two missiles were fired on Saturday at a US military site known as the Euphrates Mission Support Site, said Major Pete Nguyen, a Pentagon spokesman. No one is hurt.
In Yemen, Houthi officials said they would respond to the strikes launched against them on Saturday.
Mohammed Al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi political bureau, said, “The American-British aggression against Yemen will not go unanswered, and we will meet escalation with escalation.” In a post on social media Early on Sunday. He added that the Houthis will not stop their attacks on ships until Israeli military operations in Gaza end.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told ABC News' “This Week” on Sunday that US officials cannot rule out more attacks by groups on US forces.
“The main goal of the strikes was to extract capabilities from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria that are attacking our forces and from the Houthis who continue to threaten shipping in the Red Sea,” Sullivan said. We believe that it had a good effect in reducing and weakening the capabilities of the militias and the Houthis. If necessary, we will continue to take the necessary measures.”
In a separate interview with MSNBC's “Inside with Jen Psaki,” Sullivan said the United States will also be monitoring potential reactions from Iran in the coming weeks. He said that Biden is not looking to escalate the conflict.
“Clearly, how Tehran chooses to move forward from here will be up to them,” Sullivan said. “But we will be watching this carefully, and we are prepared to deal with what comes next.”
Republicans and some nonpartisan national security experts have criticized the Biden administration for its approach, saying Washington has not done enough to deter Iran's role in the attacks.
Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, a retired Marine general who led U.S. military operations across the Middle East from 2019 to 2022, said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that the United States “has taken Iran out.” Clearly from the list of potential countries.” objectives in this campaign,” and that doing so would give Iran “aid and comfort.”
“I am not calling for a strike on Iran,” McKenzie said. “I support that they should be in the area of potential targets… so that they are exposed.”
McKenzie said there was “some truth” that Iran may not be directing the specific attacks against US forces. He added that a few years ago, Iran gave blanket authorization to militias to attack American sites in Iraq and Syria, creating a structure in which the militias did not need to return to Tehran for approval.
While the Biden administration was working to contain the fallout, it sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the Middle East on his fifth trip to the region since October. The US State Department said on Sunday that Blinken will travel to Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel and the West Bank.
Blinken sought to prevent the conflict from expanding more widely. He is also working on long-term planning for the post-war phase in Gaza, including an agreement between Arab countries and Israel on a unified Palestinian-led body to govern the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Blinken would work to “establish a more integrated, peaceful region that includes lasting security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.”
But significant gaps remain between Israeli and Arab leaders over Blinken's road map, which calls for the creation of a Palestinian state — something Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will not allow.
Blinken will also seek to expand humanitarian access to Gaza where Palestinians face near-starvation conditions and lack food, medicine and water.
Jennifer Hassan in London, John Hudson in Washington and Kelly Kasulis Cho in Seoul contributed to this report.
