Biden fears provoking wider conflict with Iran: NYT
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US President Joe Biden rejects the Pentagon's 'aggressive bombing options' in fear of provoking Iran to "widen the conflict".
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President Joe Biden speaks at the 2023 Human Rights Campaign National Dinner, Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023, in Washington. (AP)
Late on Sunday, the United States conducted airstrikes against two facilities used by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and its allies in eastern Syria, Pentagon officials stated after the latest target on US occupation bases in Iraq and Syria.
According to the New York Times (NYT), Air Force F-15E fighter jets struck several buildings in Abu Kamal and a safe house in al-Mayadeen four days after US warplanes hit a warehouse in eastern Syria.
On that note, US President Joe Biden rejected the Pentagon's proposal to continue their bombings, in fear of provoking "a wider conflict with Iran." According to the NYT, the "White House's countermeasures have been so limited that Republican critics in Congress and some air power supporters argue that they just invite more frequent and lethal strikes on US soldiers in the region"."
Moreover, the Pentagon and other Biden administration officials dismissed criticisms, claiming that the American airstrikes were allegedly in self-defense, "proportionate to the attacks by Iran-backed militias, and meant to disrupt the militants' activities".
This comes after Iranian Defense Minister Mohammad Reza Ashtiani warned on November 5 that Iran would launch a "serious strike" on the United States in the event that the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip does not cease.
According to Tasnim, the brigadier general stated that Iran's advice to the US is to end the war "immediately," and "ensure a ceasefire." Ashtiani warned that if this is not implemented, the US will "face a serious strike."
Read next: Resistance operations ongoing until aggression on Gaza stops: Iraq
Earlier today, sources told Al Mayadeen that a rocket strike targeted the US occupation base in the Conoco gas field, northeast of Deir Ezzor in eastern Syria, in response to the American aggression on the cities of al-Mayadeen and al-Bukamal.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said US military forces carried out precision strikes on facilities in eastern Syria allegedly used by Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) and "Iran-affiliated groups" in response to continued attacks against US personnel in Iraq and Syria.
The sources confirmed that the popular Resistance targeted the US base with 15 rockets, revealing that it aimed at the command headquarters of the US military base in the Conoco gas field.
A source told Al Mayadeen that several US soldiers were killed in the strikes that targeted the Conoco base in eastern Syria. Our correspondent in Syria mentioned that the attack on the US occupation base was carried out using Grad missiles and left four US soldiers killed.
The Resistance's second response to the American aggression came by targeting the US occupation base in al-Shadadi in al-Hasakah, northeast Syria, with three suicide drones, as per Al Mayadeen's sources, confirming that the drones have hit their targets.
"US military to the Middle East"
Since the launch of Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, the US has been transferring military assets to the Middle East under the pretext of making efforts to "avoid a regional war that could pit US forces against Iranian proxies in Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria".
Earlier this month, two US aircraft carrier strike groups, recently deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean, carried out a joint exercise simulating the possibility of being targeted by ballistic missiles and other aerial projectiles.
A total of 11,000 US military personnel participated in the drill, while the Italian warships Fasan and Margottini, also recently dispatched by Italy to the region following the start of the battle, joined the two carrier strike groups to exercise NATO alliance integration.
“The ships and aircraft of two US Navy aircraft carrier strike groups conducted joint exercises over the last three days,” the US Sixth Fleet said on Friday.
“Sailors and naval aviators from the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) Carrier Strike Group (CSG 12) and those of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) Carrier Strike Group (CSG 2) trained on high-value unit defense, ballistic missile defense, replenishments-at-sea, cross-deck flight operations, and maritime security operations."
Last month, a US Marine rapid response force headed to the eastern Mediterranean Sea due to concerns about the war in Gaza potentially expanding into a regional war, CNN reported, citing two officials.
