Iraq, Syria accuses US of violating their sovereignty
Iran calls attacks ‘strategic mistake’
Iraq and Syria strongly condemned the US airstrikes on their soils, accusing Washington of violating their sovereignty and undermining the stability of the region.
The US launched deadly overnight airstrikes against what it called Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria and promised more to come in retaliation for a deadly attack on US troops in Jordan on Sunday.
Washington blamed Iran for the Sunday’s drone attack on its forces in Jordan, but did not strike inside Iranian territory, with both Washington and Tehran seemingly keen to avoid all-out war.
US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby claimed the warplanes struck more than 85 targets at seven facilities utilized by Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and the groups that they sponsor, three of them in Iraq and four in Syria.
“These targets were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties,” he added.
But Iraqi government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said civilians were among at least 16 people killed in the US strikes in western Iraq.
General Yehia Rasool, a spokesman for Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, in a statement on Saturday condemned the US strikes as a “violation of Iraqi sovereignty”, warning of “disastrous consequences” for the country and beyond.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry also on Saturday lashed out at the US for its attacks in eastern Syria, accusing Washington of being a primary source of global instability.
In a statement, the ministry said the US military forces are threatening international security and peace through attacks on nations, peoples, and sovereignty, and escalating conflicts in the Middle East.
The ministry accused the US of attempting to revive terrorist activities in the region.
The Syrian army said “a number of civilians and soldiers” were killed in the strikes in eastern Syria.
'Strategic mistake'
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani said the overnight operation was “another strategic mistake by the US government, which will have no result other than intensifying tension and instability.”
“The US military attacks on Iraq, Syria and Yemen merely provide for the goals of the Zionist regime,” he said, referring to US ally Israel.
The American strikes were “a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria, of international law and a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter”, Kanani added.
Palestinian resistance group Hamas on Saturday condemned US strikes, saying Washington had poured “oil on the fire” in the Middle East.
The US “bears responsibility for the consequences of this brutal aggression against both Iraq and Syria, which pour oil on the fire,” the group said in a statement issued in English.
“We confirm that the region will not witness stability or peace except by stopping the Zionist (Israeli) aggression and the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people in the Gaza Strip.”
Russia also reacted to the attacks, accusing the US of “sowing chaos and destruction” in the Middle East.
“Washington, confident in its impunity, is continuing its sowing of chaos and destruction in the Middle East,” Moscow’s Foreign Ministry said, adding that it “decisively condemned” the strikes.
US President Joe Biden underlined that the overnight strikes were only a beginning. “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” he said in a statement.
His National Security Council spokesman said Washington “did inform the Iraqi government prior to the strikes,” but his remark drew an angry denial from Baghdad.
‘Unfounded claim’
The Iraqi government spokesman called it an “unfounded claim crafted to mislead international public opinion” and the foreign ministry said it would call in the US charge d’affaires in Baghdad to deliver a formal protest.
Relations between the two governments have soured in recent months after Washington carried out previous airstrikes against resistance groups in Iraq in response to a flurry of attacks on US-led troops.
The two governments opened talks on the future of the US-led troop presence late last month after repeated demands from Prime Minister Al-Sudani for a timetable for their withdrawal.
The United States has some 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq as part of an international coalition against the Daesh, a terrorist group that once controlled swathes of both countries.
Its troops in Iraq are deployed at the invitation of Baghdad, but those in Syria are deployed in areas outside the control of the Damascus government.
They operate out of bases in the Kurdish-held northeast or in a small pocket of territory along the borders with Iraq and Jordan.
The Syrian military demanded on Saturday that Washington withdraw its troops.
“The occupation of parts of Syrian territory by US forces cannot continue,” it said.
US and coalition troops have been attacked more than 165 times in Iraq, Syria and Jordan by the resistance groups since the beginning of Israel’s onslaught on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians so far.
The attacks are in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
The soldiers killed Sunday were the first American military deaths from hostile fire in the upsurge of violence.