< U.S. hits Iranian proxies in Iraq, Syria in retaliation for deadly strikes

U.S. hits Iranian proxies in Iraq, Syria in retaliation for deadly strikes

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MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

The United States has launched retaliatory strikes at numerous sites in Iraq and Syria. The airstrikes began around 4 p.m. Eastern time. They are in retaliation for an attack that killed three Army reservists in Jordan. Now, this is a developing story. NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman is here to give us all the details he has. Hey, Tom.

TOM BOWMAN, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.

KELLY: Give us the details. Where exactly were these strikes? Who exactly were they targeting?

BOWMAN: Well, we're told there were Air Force long-range bombers flown from the United States, Navy aircraft from the region, and they targeted 85 targets with 125 munitions against both Iranian-backed militias as well as Iranian Revolutionary Guard military officials in both Iraq and Syria. Dozens of targets hit, again - headquarters, command and control, rocket and missile sites, drone storage facilities. So it's notable the U.S. is going after the Iranian Revolutionary Guard - actual Iranian military officials. The U.S. has said Iran has supplied and supported the militia groups. So really, you're taking it right to Iran with some of these strikes.

KELLY: OK. Although, to be clear, these are not strikes inside Iran. These are in...

BOWMAN: Correct, Iraq and Syria.

KELLY: ...Iraq and Syria, OK. One-off strikes, or do we know how long this might go?

BOWMAN: Well, we don't know if these current strikes will last well into the night. What we do know is that U.S. officials have said they would mount a tiered approach that could last days, if not longer. So clearly, this can go on for quite some time. And the militia groups have been, of course, attacking U.S. troops for years, but there has been an uptick, Mary Louise, since the Israeli-Gaza war started in October - so far, at least 165 attacks on U.S. troops since then, with some minor injuries. But last weekend, we saw for the first time U.S. service members were killed when a drone strike hit their remote base in Jordan. And, again, three Army Reserve soldiers from Georgia lost their lives.

KELLY: So talk us through the U.S. thinking here because, since the war between Israel and Hamas began, we have heard the Biden administration say, over and over, we do not want a wider war. We seem to be watching the war widen and now escalating, so help us square that.

BOWMAN: Right. They've repeatedly said, we don't want to widen the Israeli-Gaza war. We don't want to go to war with Iran. But Iran, especially its Revolutionary Guard, has vowed retaliation for any U.S. strikes. And of course, when you're talking about an ongoing tiered approach, you're obviously widening the war by your actions. It's also possible we could see some type of cyberattacks against Iranian facilities, maybe Iran itself. And these could be secretive, but officials have talked about that being a possibility. Capitol Hill has also been informed that that is a possibility going forward.

KELLY: And then just to the timing - this afternoon, President Biden and the first lady, Dr. Jill Biden, were attending the dignified transfer of the soldiers killed in that attack in Jordan. Is there any connection, do we know, between the timing of that visual and the beginning of these attacks?

BOWMAN: You know, at this point, I'm not sure if there was any connection between the ceremony today and the airstrikes. The president said earlier this week he had decided on attack options. Capitol Hill was briefed on Wednesday, so we kind of knew it was coming. I was told the attacks could begin either today or Saturday, weather depending.

KELLY: Weather depending - and here we are. NPR Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman, telling us what we know and what we don't about this afternoon's U.S. airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

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