The U.S. defense secretary told reporters the United States would work to avoid a wider conflict. (document)
The U.S. government has approved plans for multi-day strikes in Iraq and Syria that would target “Iranian personnel and facilities,” CBS News reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials.
Three U.S. service members were killed in a drone strike in Jordan on Saturday, the first U.S. deaths in an escalation of violence in the Middle East since Israel’s war in Gaza began in October, and there has been speculation for days that Washington will How to exact revenge.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters the United States would work to avoid a wider conflict.
U.S. President Joe Biden, facing pressure to take firm action without triggering a wider war with Iran, said he had decided how to respond but gave no details. Tehran said it would respond to attacks on its territory, citizens and interests abroad.
The CBS report quoted U.S. officials as saying weather would be a factor in the timing of the attack, as Washington prefers good visibility to prevent the risk of attacking civilians.
Washington said Saturday’s attack on its forces in Jordan near the Syrian border bore the “footprint” of Hezbollah, the pro-Iran militia group based in neighboring Iraq.
The group said on Wednesday it would suspend military operations against U.S. forces to avoid embarrassing Baghdad.
Since Israel launched an offensive in Gaza on October 7 in response to attacks by Hamas militants, violence has broken out in many Middle Eastern countries by Iran-allied “Axis of Resistance” armed groups.
The United States has 900 troops in Syria and about 2,500 troops in Iraq.
Iranian advisers assist armed groups in both countries.
But people familiar with the matter told Reuters that Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards are withdrawing senior officers from Syria after Israeli attacks killed six members of the elite Revolutionary Guards since December.
Further afield, the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that controls Yemen’s most populous region has attacked shipping in the Red Sea, allegedly in solidarity with Gaza, drawing retaliatory strikes from the United States and Britain.
Overnight, the U.S. military said it had shot down as many as 10 drones preparing to launch in Yemen. A U.S. Navy ship also shot down three Iranian-made drones and a Houthi anti-ship missile.
Hamas ‘insists Israel must withdraw’
Diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza accelerated this week despite intensifying fighting.
Qatari and Egyptian mediators this week made their first concrete proposal to Hamas to extend the truce agreed with Israel and the United States during talks in Paris last week.
Hamas said it was studying the text. A Palestinian official with knowledge of the negotiations told Reuters that Hamas was unlikely to reject it outright but would demand further assurances that fighting would not resume.
“For a deal to be signed, it is necessary to secure Israel’s commitment to end the war in Gaza and fully withdraw from the enclave,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Palestinian officials said the Paris text envisaged a first phase lasting 40 days, during which fighting would cease and Hamas would release the remaining civilians among the more than 100 hostages it still holds. The next step will be to hand over the bodies of Israeli soldiers and hostages.
Sami Abu Zuhri, the exiled head of Hamas’s political unit, told Reuters the group had nothing to add after announcing two days ago that it was studying a truce proposal.
Such a long pause is the first since Oct. 7, when Hamas militants attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages, accelerating an Israeli offensive that reduced much of Gaza to ruins. Health officials in the enclave said on Thursday that the confirmed death toll had exceeded 27,000, with thousands more still lying under the rubble.
The only pause in fighting so far was in late November, which lasted only a week. Aid agencies have pleaded for a longer respite to mitigate the humanitarian disaster.
The main disagreement appears to be over what happens after the truce. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to withdraw troops until “complete victory” – the eradication of Hamas.
‘All we want is a ceasefire’
The diplomatic progress has been accompanied by some of the fiercest fighting to date. Israel launched a massive ground offensive last week to seize Khan Younis, the main city in southern Gaza. Fighting has also surged in northern areas that Israel claimed it took control of weeks ago.
Residents said Israeli forces raided the area around the hospital in Khan Younis overnight and intensified attacks near Rafah on the southern edge of the enclave, where more than half of Gaza’s population has taken refuge, mostly in makeshift tents and public buildings.
Osama Ahmed, a 49-year-old father of five from Gaza City who is taking refuge in western Khan Younis.
“They have not yet penetrated deep into Mawasi, where we live, but they are getting closer every day,” he told Reuters by phone. “All we want now is a ceasefire.”
The Israeli military said troops fought at close range and directed airstrikes in Khan Younis, killing “dozens of terrorists” over the past day.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
