The Pentagon said Thursday that there have been “nearly 140” recent Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.
“To date, there have been approximately 140 attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. There have been 57 attacks in Iraq and 83 attacks in Syria,” Sabrina Singh, deputy Pentagon spokeswoman, told a news conference. said in response to a question.
New attacks on U.S. forces began in mid-October after the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hamas attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,200 people and kidnapping about 240.
The attacks continued over the last month, despite US counterattacks against these forces.
Nearly 100 attacks occurred between October 17th and December 15th. That's an average of 30 per month. These attacks continued at about the same pace into January, according to the new tally.
The Pentagon maintains that although the attacks occurred in Iraq and Syria, they are unrelated to the conflict between Israel and Hamas and do not constitute an escalation of the conflict.
The Pentagon announced Thursday that six U.S. soldiers in Syria suffered traumatic brain injuries in an attack on their positions by Iranian-backed militias last week. https://t.co/q3Y2lDBfdj
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The United States has surged military assets in the region specifically to prevent the conflict between Israel and Hamas from spilling over into Lebanon, and so far claims its efforts have been successful. But at the same time that Iranian proxies attacked U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria, the Iranian-backed Houthis began attacking U.S. troops and commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden with missiles and drones.
The United States began attacks on Houthi targets in Yemen last week, and the attacks continued into this week.
At least 66 U.S. military personnel have been injured, at least one seriously, in U.S. strikes in Iraq and Syria.
Last week, two Navy SEALs went missing during an operation to board a ship suspected of carrying weapons from Iran to Yemen.
Asked what his message was to Iran, Singh said on Thursday:
I think our message was very clear from the beginning. We know that Iran funds, supports, equips and trains these groups. We know that the very groups you just listed are behind all of these groups: Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen. So our message is very clear. We don't want regional conflicts. We do not want a regional conflict, and we certainly do not want what is happening in Gaza to spill over into a larger region or broader war.
She added that the Pentagon has “repeatedly asked Iran to stop, and we will continue to do so.”
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