US to Conduct Airstrikes Against Iran-backed Militia Groups

Joe Biden, the President of the United States, decided to conduct airstrikes against Iran-backed militia groups on the Syria-Iraq border. The decision came on Sunday night after the latest wave of attacks against the United States military assets in Iraq by a new class of Iranian-manufactured drones that the American officials say can evade United States defenses and surveillance.

Earlier this month, the latest round of the attacks occurred when an armed drone blew up at a dining facility at a main entry point in the Baghdad airport, Iraq, that used by American soldiers and diplomats, according to a U.S. official statement to CNN. Furthermore, in April, a drone damaged a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) drone hanger nearby Erbil.

Sunday night, the U.S. airstrikes attacked weapons and operational storage facilities at one location in Iraq and two locations in Syria, according to the information from the Pentagon. Pentagon stated that they target the selected locations because Iranian-backed militias utilized these facilities that engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle attacks against the American facilities and personals in Iraq.

According to a source having knowledge of the strikes said that the attacks initially planned after the April attack in Erbil, but they put on hold until this weekend when Iranian drones carried another attack to hit the northern Iraqi city – including one that strikes near the building place for a new United States consulate. However, no Americans injured and killed in the strike.

Risk to American Forces in Iraq from Iranian-made Drones

For months, United States military and intelligence personnel in Iraq were raising alarms about the risk to U.S. forces from the most sophisticated Iranian-made drones. Rocket attacks against American personnel in Iraq have become nearly a routine, and U.S. military and intelligence personnel took these new Iranian-backed drones as a clear escalation by Iran – and a concerning signal to intelligence officials that America no longer enjoys self-rule the strikes over Iraq.

Latest Drone Technology

The new technology of the drones come in varying sizes and packed with explosives – anywhere from a 5-feet wingspread to twelve to fifteen feet, according to the info from the U.S. military official. In addition, the larger iterations of the drones carrying up to thirty kilograms of explosives. That is far smaller and less deadly than the U.S.-made MQ-9 Reaper drones.

However, former and current officials say these new Iranian-manufactured drones pose an exclusive threat in part because Tehran has no unquestionable – since no country has the technology. Contrary to the Katyusha rockets that usually fired at the United States troops in Iraq, American officials say there is no question that Iran is delivering them to the complex web of militia groups who intends to eject the U.S. from Iraq.

These sources say that they are also considerably more dangerous. Enemy forces are also increasingly using these smaller drones for intelligence-gathering on the United States and allied bases, according to the statement of a spokesman for the U.S. mission in Iraq that he told CNN. Biden used the force in the region for the second time to carry Sunday strikes. Previously, he launched airstrikes in eastern Syria against the so-called Iranian-backed militia groups to carry attacks on United States forces in Iraq.

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