Kremlin 'closely monitoring' Syrian developments after US' first airstrike of Biden era

The Kremlin, in an official statement on Friday, said it was closely following the developments in Syria after the United States Air Force launched an offensive against Iran-backed militia in the region. The airstrikes, which targeted defensive posts and facilities of pro-Iranian rebel factions near the Iraqi border, was the United States’ first military ‘retaliatory action’ enacted under the Biden administration according to the Pentagon.

Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Friday that at least 17 pro-Iran militants were neutralized after US military fighter jets dropped bombs as a defensive move against rocket attack launched on US coalition troops in Iraq earlier. At least one civilian contractor was killed, a US service member and many other officers from US-Iraqi coalition troops were wounded. 

In response to the US military airstrikes in eastern Syria, Russia’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state reporters that the United States defence had communicated no information to Moscow related to airstrikes. He added, that the operational contacts were made through the military between the governments of the two nations. The director of the SOHR, Rami Abdul Rahman, told agencies that the US airstrikes caused heavy casualties around the region, several members of Popular Mobilization Forces were killed, and at least three convoys carrying munitions were destroyed. 

Read: New US Envoy To UN Gets Red Carpet Welcome From Russia

Read: Putin Warns Of Foreign Efforts To Destabilize Russia

"Operation sends an unambiguous message: President Biden will act to protect American coalition personnel. At the same time, we have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both Eastern Syria and Iraq," Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters of AP.

[Credit: AP]

Shia militant targets

Defending the US retaliatory action, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters that he was “confident in the target that the US forces went after,” adding that they “know what they hit,” as he spoke to the press. “We’re confident that that target was being used by the same Shia militants that conducted the strikes,” the US defense secretary said. Austin further alleged that he ‘recommended’ the military action to Biden. “We said a number of times that we will respond on our timeline,” Austin said. “We wanted to be sure of the connectivity and we wanted to be sure that we had the right targets.” Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the US airforce conducted a “proportionate military response” in consultation with military coalition partners stationed in Syria. 

In a statement to Moscow’s state-run agency TASS, Kremlin spokesperson Peskov noted, that the Russian military troops were assessing the damage on the ground and were closely monitoring the situation in close contact with the Syrian forces. The Syrian state radio service revealed that the US airforce bombed the pro-Iranian Kait'ib Hezbollah and Kait'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada bases in a joint military operation that the forces said was being conducted against the terror group Islamic State. Denouncing US action as ‘aggression’, the Syrian press and radio broadcasts said that there was no identification established to the casualties that occurred.  Saudi Al Hadath TV channel, meanwhile, confirmed that at least 17 were killed in US airstrikes. 

Read: Ukraine Accuses Russia Of 'targeted Assassination', Files Case At European Court

Read: EU On Tension With Russia, Relations With US

(Image Credit: AP)