Tuesday, June 29, 2021
Response to air strikes
Pro-Iranian militias shell US base
In Vienna, the US is feeling the need for a revival of the international nuclear agreement with Iran, while Biden lets arms do the talking in the Iraqi-Syrian border region. The response of the pro-Iranian militias to air strikes follows promptly.
After renewed US air strikes against pro-Iranian fighters in the Middle East, they shot at a US base in eastern Syria on Monday evening. Several rockets had been fired at the base, said the spokesman for the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist militia, Wayne Marotto, on Twitter. There are no injuries, the extent of the property damage is currently being examined.
The shelling was aimed at the US base on the Al-Omar oil field in the Syrian province of Deir Essor, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In response, aircraft from the US Army and its allies reportedly flew over the area. The official news agency Sana also reported on the bombing of a military base “by the US occupation forces in the Al-Omar oil field” with rockets. The report did not specify who carried out the attacks.
The head of the Syrian Observatory, Rami Abdel Rahman, said the international anti-IS coalition responded to the attack in Deir Essor with “heavy artillery bombardment” on the pro-Iranian militia-controlled city of Al-Majadin. The observatory relies on a network of local activists. Your information can hardly be verified by an independent party.
Biden defends crackdown on militias
On Monday night, the US Army carried out air strikes against pro-Iranian militias in Iraq and Syria for the second time since President Joe Biden took office. It responded to dozens of attacks on US targets in Iraq over the past few months. According to the observatory, an arms store near the Syrian border town of Albu Kamal was destroyed in the US air strikes.
The timing of the recent US air strikes is extremely sensitive from a diplomatic perspective. Talks are currently underway in Vienna about a revival of the 2015 international nuclear agreement with Iran, in which the USA is indirectly involved. Former US President Donald Trump unilaterally terminated the agreement in 2018. Biden has promised a US return to the deal.
Meanwhile, Biden received the outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the White House. Israel is hostile to the nuclear deal with Iran. Biden took the opportunity to defend the air strikes. These were aimed at facilities used by pro-Iranian militias that had been responsible for attacks against US forces in Iraq, he said. Biden stressed that, as President, he has the constitutional authority to order this. Turning to Tehran, he said Iran would never get a nuclear weapon while in office.
.