The US airstrike against Syria

1 Syria

The USA launched airstrikes against a facility in the eastern Syria. The Pentagon stated that the airstrikes were carried out on the pro-Iranian groups, by an order of the US President Joe Biden. John Kirby, the Pentagon’s assistant public affairs officer, explained that the airstrikes were made in a response to the recent attacks against the US and coalition officials in Iraq, as well as due to the ongoing threats. The airstrikes destroyed several facilities located at a checkpoint, used by numerous pro-Iranian groups, like ’Kataib Hezbollah’ and ’Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhadah’, the report stated. The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, stated that the USA are confident that it was a strike against the same Shiia group that previously made sorties in Iraq, including against the US interests. Lloyd Austin underlined that the target of the airstrike was found thanks to the intelligence provided by Iraq. The ’New York Times’ reported while citing their sources that the USA assume that several members of the aforementioned groups were killed in the airstrike. There was no official confirmation of that report. Official sources of the ’Bloomberg’ reported that the air attack targeted several buildings, considered by the USA to be a «staging post», used to transport the members of the aforementioned groups to Iraq. According to the ’Bloomberg’ — the US military believes that there were several people in there. The ’Bloomberg’ reported that the US military used an F-15 fighter jet to airstrike.

2 Syria

The ’Al Arabiya’ TV reported that during the recent missile attack in the eastern Syria, the US Air Force hit a convoy of Shiia militias, right after the convoy crossed the Syrian-Iraqi border near the ’Al Qaim’ checkpoint. The airstrike, reportedly, killed 22 fighters of the Iraqi Shiia militia group ’Al-Hashd al-Shaabi’, and the ’Kataib Hezbollah’ brigade. The groups are fighting on the side of Syria against the ’ISIS’ terrorists.

3 Russia

The head of the Russian Federal Council Committee on the Foreign Affairs, Konstantin Kosachev, stated that the US airstrike on Syria could lead to an escalation of the military confrontation in the region, and to disrupt the normalization of the US-Iranian interaction within the framework of the ’Joint Comprehensive Action Plan’. He noted that 4 states are involved in this situation — the USA, Iraq, Iran and Syria. However, only the USA openly use force. “This is happening in conditions when the circumstances of the missile fire on the green zone in Baghdad on 22nd of February are not yet fully clarified, and when the people, responsible for that attack, are appointed from among the geopolitical opponents. The USA once again arrogate to themselves the right to conduct an investigation, to pass a sentence, and to carry out the sentence out of court, and without the norms and principles of the international law «- Konstantin Kosachev concluded.

4 Russia

The Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated that Russia strongly condemns the US air strike on the night of 26th of February on the Syrian-Iraqi border. «We call for the unconditional respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria. We reaffirm our rejection of any attempts to turn Syria into an arena for settling the geopolitical scores» — Maria Zakharova stated. The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, told to the reporters that the USA gave the Russian military a heads-up about the airstrike in Syria about 5 minutes before it was launched.

5 Azerbaijan — Armenia

The Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev stated during an interview that Armenia didn’t provide Azerbaijan with minefield maps, and this can be considered a crime. Ilham Aliyev underlined that Azerbaijan returned all the Armenian citizens who were captured during the recent war in Nagorno-Karabakh. According to him — only «terrorists and saboteurs» are being held. He explained that the people, currently held by Azerbaijan, do not fall into the category of PoWs. «These are terrorists and saboteurs. Any speculation on the part of Armenia or other countries is unacceptable» — he concluded.

6 Armenia

The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, stated on Facebook that the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff decided which weapons to buy — the government only allocated the funds. Nikol Pashinyan made such statement due to the demand of the armed forces for his resignation. He stated that under his rule much more money was spent on the needs of the troops than before him. «Since May of 2018, Armenia has acquired an unprecedented amount of weapons and ammo, compared to the recent past» — Pashinyan stated. Constantine Reztsov, specially for the ANNA NEWS.