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US intends further strikes against Iran-backed groups

US strikes more than a dozen Iran-linked sights

The US intends to launch further strikes at Iran-backed groups in the Middle East – vowing dozens of hits at the weekend were “just the beginning”.

The US and Britain have hit Tehran-aligned factions in Iraq, Syria and Yemen in the past two days.

They unleashed attacks against 36 Houthi targets in Yemen, a day after the US military hit Tehran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for a deadly attack on US troops in Jordan.

“We intend to take additional strikes, and additional action, to continue to send a clear message that the United States will respond when our forces are attacked, when our people are killed,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC’s Meet the Press program.

He made similar comments in an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union.

“I would just say that the President [Joe Biden] was clear when he ordered them and when he conducted them that that was the beginning of our response and there will be more steps to come,” Sullivan said.

“I’m not going to, obviously, describe the character of that action because I don’t want to telegraph our punches but there will be further action.”

The strikes are the latest blows in a conflict that has spread into the Middle East since October 7, when the Iran-backed Palestinian militant group Hamas stormed Israel from the Gaza Strip, igniting war.

The Biden administration’s diplomatic efforts to stem the fallout from the war also continued with top diplomat Antony Blinken departing for the region on Sunday afternoon (US time).

US launches strikes against Iran-backed groups

Source: US Central Command

Tehran-backed groups declaring support for the Palestinians have entered the fray across the region: Hezbollah has fired at Israeli targets at the Lebanese-Israeli border, Iraqi militias have fired on US forces in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis have fired on shipping in the Red Sea and at Israel itself.

Iran has so far avoided any direct role in the conflict, even as it backs those groups. The Pentagon has said it does not want war with Iran and does not believe Tehran wants war either.

Sullivan declined to be drawn on whether the US might attack sites inside Iran, something its military has been very careful to avoid.

Speaking to CBS’ Face the Nation program moments earlier, he said Friday’s strikes were “the beginning, not the end, of our response, and there will be more steps – some seen, some perhaps unseen”.

“I would not describe it as some open-ended military campaign,” he said.

Saturday’s strikes in Yemen hit buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems, launchers and other capabilities the Houthis have used to attack Red Sea shipping, the Pentagon said, adding it targeted 13 locations.

The Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the strikes “will not pass without a response and consequences”.

Another Houthi spokesperson, Mohammed Abdulsalam, indicated the group would not be deterred, saying Yemen’s decision to support Gaza would not be affected by any attack.

The Houthis did not announce any casualties.

Blinken will visit Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Israel in the coming days on his fifth trip to the region since October. It will focus on advancing talks on the return of hostages taken from Israel by Hamas in exchange for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza.

-with AAP

Topics: Iran, war
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