Biden says 'We're not going to stop' as Syria occupation bases get hit

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
25 Mar 08:58
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US President Joe Biden says the US will "act forcefully" to 'protect its personnel' in Syria amid extensive attacks against US occupation bases in Northern Syria.

An Army carry team loads into a vehicle a transfer case containing the remains of Spc. Antonio I. Moore, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware after being killed in Deir Ezzor province, Syria. (AP)

After a senior Iranian advisor revealed how the US shelled Deir Ezzor, Syria, US President Joe Biden warned Iran, on Friday, that the US, to protect its occupation forces and interests in Syria, will "act forcefully".

"Make no mistake: the United States does not ... seek conflict with Iran, but be prepared for us to act forcefully to protect our people," Biden said in a briefing while on a visit to Canada.

Moreover, Biden was asked whether Iran would face a more severe blow, to which Biden replied, "We’re not going to stop."

It is worth noting that according to the Pentagon, as reported by Reuters, US F-15 jets, that flew out of al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, initially targeted facilities in Deir Ezzor pertaining to groups affiliated with the Iranian Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC). However, a senior Iranian advisor told the UNews news website that "the targets that were hit [by the US] are food stores and service centers," adding that "this aggression resulted in seven martyrs and injured seven other innocents who did nothing wrong except for serving the locals, their people, in the area."

"We are fully aware that the US occupation is trying to cause injuries among our ranks under false pretexts that it has long used to justify its criminality," he added. "Based on that, we underline that our mission, through our legitimate presence in Syria, has been to help the Syrian state to confront the terrorists and the takfiri project led by ISIS."

"For years, the region has been under attack from the American occupation, in an attempt to impose an equation of force, and their pretext has always been that they are returning fire. In the end, it turned out that they are seeking to attack precision weapons and systems that Iran is transporting, which pose a threat to their protégé, 'Israel'," the top Iranian advisor said.

Al Mayadeen's Damascus Bureau chief reported that over 15 rockets targeted US occupation bases and facilities throughout the night. There is no conclusive report on the extent of the damages. However, at least five were wounded, three of whom were transferred to the US base in Iraq, and one contractor was pronounced dead.

Failed to launch

The US was investigating the reason why its air defense system was not fully operational during a strike on a US base in Syria, The New York Times reported Friday.

One of the officials explained that the Avenger missile defense system on the base, RLZ, may have been experiencing some unexpected maintenance issues, although the fact that the troops were on high alert given the frequent attacks they are subjected to in light of their occupation of Syrian territory, the report said.

The US military currently has no knowledge as to why the system did not work as it should, and the circumstances are being investigated at present, the report said, citing two officials.

It was reported earlier in the day that about a dozen rockets were fired at a US base, with a second base in the area being targeted, but the strikes did not result in casualties.

The US military occupation controls parts of the provinces of Al-Hasakah, Raqqa, Aleppo, and Deir Ezzor, where the largest Syrian oil and gas fields are located. The Syrian government has repeatedly called the US military presence in the provinces an occupation aimed at plundering the country's oil.

The US military said it carried out "precision airstrikes" in eastern Syria on Thursday in response to an alleged drone attack that killed one American and injured five US service personnel.

A Department of Defense statement claimed that the casualties fell "after a one-way unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria."

The US has for long employed the alleged "ISIS threat" as a pretext to continue its illegal occupation of Syrian territories, frequently looting oil and gas from Syrian fields and transporting them to other occupation bases in Iraq via illegal crossings.