[ad_1]
SIGNIFICANT ESCALATION
The United States has some 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq as part of an international coalition against the Islamic State group.
Its troops in Iraq are deployed at the invitation of Baghdad, but those in Syria are deployed in areas outside government control.
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.
Analysts said the US strikes were unlikely to stem the flurry of attacks on US targets sparked by American support for Israel in its war on Hamas.
The strikes represent a “significant escalation”, said Allison McManus, of the Center for American Progress think tank, but “we have not seen that similar tit-for-tat strikes have had a deterrent effect”.
Al-Nujaba, an Iraqi group part of a pro-Iran alliance blamed by Washington for numerous attacks on its forces, vowed a response.
In a statement, the group warned “the US occupation … that the Islamic resistance will respond in the manner it deems appropriate, at the time and place of its choosing, and that this is not the end”.
US and coalition troops have been attacked more than 165 times in Iraq, Syria and Jordan since mid-October.
The soldiers killed Sunday were the first American military deaths from hostile fire in the upsurge of violence.
[ad_2]
Source link