Iraq, Syria Condemn US Midnight Aerial Aggression

By Staff, Agencies

The Iraqi government has condemned in the strongest terms the US military’s airstrikes against dozens of sites in the country and neighboring Syria used by anti-terror resistance groups as a “violation of the Iraqi sovereignty.”

“These airstrikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty,” General Yehya Rasool, a spokesman for Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, said in a statement.

He noted that the actions taken by Washington will have “disastrous consequences for the security and stability of Iraq and the region”.

For its part, a Syrian military statement also condemned the aerial aggression on a number of sites and towns in the eastern region of Syria, near Iraqi borders.

“US occupation forces launched on Saturday a blatant aerial aggression on a number of sites and towns in the eastern region of Syria, near Iraqi borders, leaving many civilian and military martyrs, inuring others and causing huge damage to private and public properties,” a military statement announced.

The statement added that the region targeted by the US attack eastern of Syria is the same where the Syrian army fights remnants of the Wahhabi Daesh [Arabic acronym for “ISIS”/ “ISIL”] terrorist organization, and this affirms that the US is involved and allied with this origination.

“The US aggression today dawn has no justification, but it is an attempt to weaken the Syrian army’s capability to fight terrorism,” the statement added.

It stressed that the US forces’ occupation of parts in Syria couldn’t continue, and the General Command of the Army and Armed forces is determined to fight terrorism and liberate all Syrian territories from terrorism and occupation.

Furthermore, the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the attack on the eastern region Saturday dawn, saying it categorically rejects all lies promoted by the US administration to justify this attack.

“It is not surprising that the American attack targets the eastern region of Syria, where our Syrian forces are fighting against the remnants of Daesh terrorist organization, while the United States is working to revive ISIS terrorist activity,” the statement added.

It also said that Saturday’s attack on Syrian territory adds to the US record of violations against Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the safety of its people, proving once again that it is the main source of global instability and that its military forces threaten international peace and security and ignites conflict in the region.

 “The Syrian Arab Republic expresses its deep concern over the state of paralysis of the UN Security council as the US hinders its ability to assume it responsibilities in halting such dangerous violations,” the statement added.

US Central Command [CENTCOM] said its military forces struck more than 85 targets in the two countries “with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from the United States”.

“The air strikes employed more than 125 precision munitions,” it added in a statement.

US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Friday that the strikes were the first in a series of actions by Washington in response to a drone attack that killed a number of soldiers at a remote US base in Jordan.

“Our response began today,” Biden said. “It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” he stated.

Three US soldiers were killed and about 40 others injured in the assault on the military base known as Tower 22 near the Jordan-Syria border on Sunday.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of anti-terror fighters, in a statement published on its Telegram channel claimed responsibility for the drone strike.