Following Monday’s airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Syria, U.S. forces in the Middle East may be under new threat of attack by Iran and its proxies.
Lt. Gen. Alexus Grynkewicz, the commander in chief of the U.S. Air Force, said the attack, believed to be carried out by Israel, could serve as a springboard for new attacks on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria. The United States has suffered more than 150 similar attacks in the months since Oct. 7, but the pace of attacks slowed after three U.S. soldiers were killed in January.
“I am concerned that Iran’s rhetoric about the United States could pose a risk to our military,” Grynkewicz said.
The United States has insisted that Iran had nothing to do with Monday’s attack on Syria. Nevertheless, Iranian officials maintain that the United States is just as responsible for the attack as Israel.
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Emergency services work in a building hit by an Israeli airstrike in Damascus, Syria. Iran also claims the United States is responsible for the attack. (AP Photo/Omar Sanadiki)
Israel has not acknowledged its involvement in the attack, but U.S. officials said evidence points to an Israeli attack.
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Iranian authorities have vowed swift retaliation for the attack, but experts say the response is likely to be channeled through a network of Iranian terrorist proxies, including Hamas, the Houthis and Hezbollah.
The commander of the Iranian Navy announced in a broadcast that an Iranian regime would be established in Antarctica. (Getty Images)
Hezbollah also pledged “punishment and revenge” for the attack and called those killed in the attack “martyrs.”
Yigal Kalmon, a former adviser on counterterrorism to two Israeli prime ministers and founder and director of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), told Fox News Digital:[Iran’s supreme leader’s] Years of policy reflect despicability. Iranians’ reaction pattern is to escalate when they feel the other person is afraid of them, and retreat when the other person shows restraint. ”
He added: “With the attack on an official Iranian government target in Damascus, Israel has escalated its attacks against Iran and has signaled to Iran that Israel will not continue the proxy games often played by Iran. “The escalation was to serve as a warning, and we are doing that.” For now, Iran, we are ready to fight you directly, even if we are at war in both Gaza and Lebanon. ”
Emergency workers work at a building hit by an airstrike in Damascus, Syria.
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Attacks on U.S. military bases in Iraq and Syria have slowed only after the Biden administration ordered large-scale strikes against Iranian-allied targets in response to the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Jordan earlier this year. .
