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“Up to a handful” of activists have been killed in the strikes, a US official told CNN. The site was not specifically linked to the rocket attacks, but Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was “confident” that it was being used by the same Iran-backed Shiite militias targeting US forces and the coalition in Iraq with rocket attacks.
The site is said to be used as part of an arms smuggling operation by Iranian-backed militias, according to a US official. The site was used by Iraqi Hezbollah militias near the village of al-Hurri, just on the Syrian-Iraqi border inside Syria, a resident of the town of Albu Kamal told CNN under cover. anonymity for security reasons.
The administration claimed that the strike was supported by Article II of the Constitution, as well as the Charter of the United Nations. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the strikes took place “under the leadership of President Biden” and were authorized not only to respond to recent attacks on US and coalition forces, but also to cope. to “continuous threats against these personnel”.
House Intelligence Speaker Adam Schiff said the Biden administration’s notification to Congress of military strikes in Syria was “inadequate” and that he was seeking further legal justification for the military action.
“This makes President Biden the seventh consecutive US president to order strikes in the Middle East,” said California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna. “There is absolutely no justification for a president to authorize a military strike that is not in self-defense against an imminent threat without the authorization of Congress.”
Republicans have largely praised Biden for striking against Iranian-backed militias.
Texas Representative Michael McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US response was a “necessary deterrent” that reminds Iran and its proxies that attacks on American interests “will not be tolerated”.
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