CNN
—
The US will take “additional motion” after conducting major airstrikes over the weekend towards Iranian-backed militias who’ve carried out assaults on US troops within the Center East, nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan mentioned Sunday.
“I might simply say that the president was clear when he ordered them and when he carried out them that that was the start of our response and there might be extra steps to come back,” Sullivan instructed CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
Sullivan, in response to Bash asking whether or not that meant the US was planning further strikes, mentioned, “What it means is that we are going to take additional motion.
“I’m not going to, clearly, describe the character of that motion as a result of I don’t need to telegraph our punches,” he mentioned, “however there might be additional motion.”
The promise of additional motion from the Biden administration comes after the US has adopted a “multi-tiered” response to the drone assault that killed three US service members and wounded greater than 40 others final week. The assault introduced the worst lack of US navy life within the area in nearly three years and the primary US navy fatalities for the reason that struggle in Gaza erupted.
On Friday, the US hit 85 targets across seven locations in Iraq and Syria.
The US strikes killed not less than 16 individuals in Iraq, together with civilians, and injured 25 others, the Iraqi authorities mentioned Friday. The assaults hit areas near the border with Syria and focused amenities utilized by Iranian-linked al Hashd al Shabi — or Common Mobilization Models — within the Iraqi metropolis of Al-Qaim, Iraqi officers mentioned.
The following day, the US and UK conducted strikes on at least 30 Houthi targets in Yemen from air and floor platforms, together with fighter jets, with the assist of a number of different international locations.