US retaliatory airstrikes updates: White House vows to take ‘more action’ after deadly drone attack

(NEW YORK) — The United States on Friday began to carry out airstrikes against Iran-backed militants and Iranian military targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for a drone attack on an American base in Jordan on Jan. 28 that killed three U.S. service members.

Dozens of other American troops were wounded in the drone attack on the Tower 22 base near Jordan’s border with Iraq and Syria. The U.S. says Iran is responsible for funding and arming the militants while Iran has denied involvement.

U.S. President Joe Biden had quickly warned that America would respond forcefully, escalating U.S. involvement in the Middle East after months of trying to contain tensions from boiling over into a broader war in the region.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Feb 04, 9:23 PM
Another US strike hits 4 anti-ship cruise missiles

U.S. Central Command forces conducted what CENTCOM said was a “strike in self-defense against a Houthi land attack cruise missile,” earlier on Sunday.

CENTCOM confirmed the incident — which it said was due to an “imminent threat” — happened at 10:30 a.m. local time. U.S. forces hit four anti-ship cruise missiles in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, which it says were “prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea.”

CENTCOM said the threat was to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the area.

“These actions will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy vessels and merchant vessels,” CENTCOM said in a release Sunday night.

-ABC News’ Nathan Luna

Feb 04, 5:31 PM
More retaliatory operations planned after troop deaths, official says

The U.S. will take “more action” against Iran-backed militants in response to the deadly drone attack in Jordan last week, the White House’s national security adviser said in an interview on Sunday.

“This was the beginning of our response, there will be more steps,” Jake Sullivan told ABC News “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “Some of those steps will be seen, some may not be seen. But there will be more action taken to respond to the the tragic death of the three brave U.S. service members.”

The U.S. has blamed Iran-backed fighters for the attack on Tower 22 in Jordan on Jan. 28.

Iran has denied involvement. Pressed by Stephanopoulos whether additional strikes could escalation tension with Iran, Sullivan said it’s something the U.S. is prepared for.

“This is something that we have to look at as a threat,” he said. “We have to prepare for every contingency, and we are prepared for that contingency. And I would just say, from the perspective of Tehran, if they chose to respond directly to the United States, they would be met with a swift and forceful response from us.”

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow

Feb 03, 11:05 PM
US destroys anti-ship cruise missile in Yemen: CENTCOM

Early Sunday morning, the United States conducted a strike “in self-defense against a Houthi anti-ship cruise missile prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea,” a statement from the U.S. Central Command forces said.

Around 4 a.m. locally, U.S. forces identified a cruise missile in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen and determined it presented an imminent threat to U.S. Navy ships and merchant vessels in the region, according to CENTCOM.

According to the release, “This action will protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for U.S. Navy vessels and merchant vessels.”

Feb 03, 6:06 PM
Airstrikes on Yemen aim to stop attacks against US ships and international commercial vessels

The round of airstrikes launched by the U.S. and U.K. on Saturday “further degraded the Houthis’ capability to continue their illegal and reckless attacks” against U.S. ships and international commercial vessels, according to a senior U.S. administration official.

“The U.S. does not want escalation, and these strikes are directly in response to the actions by the Iranian-backed Houthis,” the senior administration official said. “They are unrelated to the action the United States took on Friday in response to the continued attacks on our troops and facilities in Iraq and Syria.”

The official emphasizes that the U.S. has “rallied a global coalition” to condemn and hold the Houthis accountable, adding that this is the third round of strikes as part of the coalition that includes the U.S., UK, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, and now also Denmark and New Zealand.

-ABC News’ Selina Wang

Feb 03, 6:05 PM
Correction: Strikes on Houthis in Yemen not in response to attack on troops in Jordan, per US officials

The U.S. and U.K. led a coalition of strikes against Houthis in Yemen focused on degrading the Houthis capabilities in shipping attacks, US officials say, stressing that the strikes are unrelated to strikes against targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday which were in response to the attack on U.S. troops in Jordan. Earlier reporting said the attacks on Yemen were in response to the attack on U.S. troops in Jordan.

While the timing may be coincidental, both the militia groups in Iraq and Syria, and the Houthis are backed by Iran, U.S. officials say. But when asked if there was an intended message for Iran as well, the U.S. officials said they did not want to focus on Iran and instead kept the discussion about how each of the airstrikes was intended to deter and degrade Iran’s local proxies.

Feb 03, 5:16 PM
Austin warns Houthis to end attacks on shipping vessels

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin released a statement saying the strikes on Yemen aim to “disrupt and degrade the capabilities of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia” from continuing to attack vessels in the Red Sea.

The strikes targeted Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems, and radars, according to a statement from Austin.

“This collective action sends a clear message to the Houthis that they will continue to bear further consequences if they do not end their illegal attacks on international shipping and naval vessels,” Austin said.

He added, “We will not hesitate to defend lives and the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways.”

-ABC News’ Nate Luna

Feb 03, 5:05 PM
US, UK launch strikes against 36 Houthi targets in Yemen

The militaries of the U.S. and U.K. launched strikes against 36 Houthi targets in Yemen, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands and New Zealand, the countries said in a joint statement Saturday.

The strikes targeted 13 locations in Yemen in response to the Houthis’ continued attacks against international and commercial shipping as well as naval vessels transiting the Red Sea, the statement said.

“These precision strikes are intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities that the Houthis use to threaten global trade, and the lives of innocent mariners, and are in response to a series of illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi actions since previous coalition strikes on January 11 and 22, 2024, including the January 27 attack which struck and set ablaze the Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker M/V Marlin Luanda,” the statement said.

-ABC News’ Nate Luna

Feb 03, 4:37 PM
US retaliatory strikes begin in Yemen

The next round of retaliatory strikes for the attack in Jordan are ongoing in Yemen at this time, three U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News.

The strikes are in addition to the six anti-ship missiles that were taken out, also in Yemen, earlier in the day.

-ABC News’ Nate Luna

Feb 03, 2:37 PM
29 members of Iranian militias killed in strikes on Syria

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a group which reports on war in Syria, confirmed that 29 members of Iranian militias were killed in airstrikes on 28 positions.

Separately, Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a state security force including Iran-backed groups, said that 16 its members were killed including fighters and medics.

Feb 03, 12:10 PM
Hezbollah condemns US strikes in Iraq, Syria

In a statement on Saturday, the Hezbollah terrorist organization strongly condemned the U.S.’s strikes on Iraq and Syria and extended its sympathies for the lives lost.

“What the United States of America did is a blatant violation of the sovereignty of the two countries, an attack on their security and territorial integrity, and a shameless violation of all international and humanitarian laws,” Hezbollah said.

“This new aggression contributes to destabilizing the region, and creating false justifications and pretexts for the continuation of the American occupation of several regions in Iraq and Syria against the will of their people who yearn for freedom and independence,” Hezbollah said.

U.S. officials said Friday that targets were chosen to avoid civilian casualties and because they were connected to enabling the attacks against American service members.

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Aras Maman

Feb 03, 12:05 PM
Jordan denies involvement in US strikes in Iraq

A Jordanian military source told the state-owned Al-Mamlaka TV that Jordan was not involved in U.S. strikes on Iraqi soil, refuting earlier allegations. However, the Jordanian statement did not mention strikes in Syrian territory.

“There is no truth to press reports regarding the participation of Jordanian aircraft in operations carried out by American aircraft inside Iraq,” the source told Al-Mamlaka TV.

“The Jordanian Armed Forces respect the sovereignty of brotherly Iraq,” the source said, confirming “the depth of the brotherly relations that unite Jordan with all Arab countries.”

-ABC News’ Ghazi Balkiz and Aras Maman

Feb 03, 11:06 AM
Iraq declares 3 days of public mourning over strike deaths

The Iraqi government declared that it will have three days of public mourning over the civilians and armed forces who were killed in the U.S. strikes.

“Today, Saturday, the Prime Minister, Mr. Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani, directed the declaration of general mourning in all state departments and institutions, for a period of three days, out of mercy for the souls of the martyrs of our armed forces and the civilians who died as a result of the American bombing on the areas of Akashat and Al-Qaim, west of Anbar Governorate,” the Iraqi prime minister’s office said in a statement.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres

Feb 03, 6:39 AM
Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs summons US diplomat following strikes

The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Chargé d’Affaires of the United States Embassy in Baghdad, the Iraqi MFA said in an official statement.

“In protest against the American aggression that targeted Iraqi military and civilian sites, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will summon the Charge d’Affairs of the United States Embassy in Baghdad, Mr. David Perker, due to the absence of the American Ambassador, to hand him an official note of protest regarding the American attack that targeted military and civilian sites in the Akashat and Al-Qaim regions yesterday evening,” the MFA statement said.

Feb 03, 6:07 AM
U.S. strikes in Iraq killed at least 16 and wounded 25: Iraqi government

U.S. strikes in Iraq killed at least 16 people and wounded 25 others, the Iraqi government confirmed in an official statement.

“The American administration committed a new aggression against the sovereignty of Iraq, as the locations of our security forces, in the Akashat and Al-Qaim regions, as well as neighboring civilian places, were bombed by several American aircraft,” said the Iraqi government. “This blatant aggression led to 16 martyrs, including civilians, in addition to 25 wounded. It also caused losses and damage to residential buildings and citizens’ property.”

The Iraqi government also said the strikes would “put security in Iraq and the region on the brink of the abyss” and that they directly contradict the United States effort to “establish the required stability” in the region.

Feb 02, 10:22 PM
Video of B-1 bomber aircraft taking off to carry out airstrike: CENTCOM

The United States Central Command posted a video Friday evening showing B-1 bomber aircraft taking off from its bases in the U.S. to carry out the airstrikes in Syria and Iraq.

“Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups continue to represent a direct threat to the stability of Iraq, the region, and the safety of Americans. We will continue to take action, do whatever is necessary to protect our people, and hold those responsible who threaten their safety,” Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, U.S. CENTCOM Commander, said in a statement.

Feb 02, 6:45 PM
‘We believe that the strikes were successful’: Kirby

The Department of Defense is in the early stages of battle damage assessment “but we believe that the strikes were successful,” National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters in a call Friday.

“The initial indications are that we hit exactly what we meant to hit, with a number of secondary explosions associated with the ammunition and logistics locations,” Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Chiefs, said on the call.

Kirby said the strikes took place in the course of 30 minutes and involved over 125 precision-guided munitions. Of the seven total strike locations, three were in Iraq and four were in Syria, according to Sims.

Targeted facilities included command and control centers, intelligence centers, rocket missile and drone storage facilities, and logistics ammunition supply chain facilities, Kirby said.

Kirby noted the targets were chosen to avoid civilian casualties and because they were connected to enabling the attacks against the U.S. service members.

The administration does not know at this time if or how many militants may have been killed or wounded.

Officials would not tell ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce definitively whether there will be more strikes Friday night but said all U.S. aircraft were out of harm’s way.

Kirby said the strikes are expected to continue in the “coming days.”

-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow, Sarah Kolinovsky and Molly Nagle

Feb 02, 5:55 PM
Iraqi border area with Syria being targeted: Iraqi military

The city of Al-Qa’im on the Iraqi border with Syria as well as other areas along the Iraqi border with Syria “are being subjected to air strikes by United States aircraft,” the spokesperson for the commander-in-chief of the Iraqi Armed Forces said in a statement.

“These strikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, an undermining of the efforts of the Iraqi government, and a threat that will drag Iraq and the region into unforeseen consequences, the consequences of which will be disastrous for security and stability in Iraq and the region,” the statement continued.

Feb 02, 5:40 PM
Defense Secretary Austin: 7 facilities used by groups to attack US forces were struck

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said U.S. military forces, at Biden’s direction, conducted strikes on seven facilities inside Iraq and Syria that “Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated militias use to attack U.S. forces.”

“This is the start of our response,” Austin said in a statement. “The President has directed additional actions to hold the IRGC and affiliated militias accountable for their attacks on U.S. and Coalition Forces. These will unfold at times and places of our choosing.”

Like Biden, Austin stressed the U.S. doesn’t seek conflict in the Middle East but attacks on U.S. troops won’t go unanswered.

“We will take all necessary actions to defend the United States, our forces, and our interests,” he concluded.

Feb 02, 5:39 PM
Biden says US response will continue ‘at times and places of our choosing’

President Biden, who earlier Friday attended the dignified return of the three Army reservists killed in the Jordan drone attack, signaled more action is to come.

“Our response began today,” Biden said in his first statement on the strikes in Iraq and Syria.

“This afternoon, at my direction, U.S. military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack U.S. forces,” he added. “It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”

He ended saying, “The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world,” he continued. “But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”

Feb 02, 5:08 PM
Biden’s retaliatory strikes come with risks of escalation and political consequences: Experts

President Biden is facing a turning point in the Middle East conflict that carries significant risks of escalation and heavy election-year political consequences.

The debate inside the White House ahead of the retaliatory strikes was tense, according to a U.S. official, as the administration weighed options that some believe will send a clear message to Iran-backed proxy groups to stop the attacks and others fear could trigger broader fighting in the region.

“The choices that any administration and every administration have faced since the Iranian Revolution are fraught,” Aaron David Miller, a former State Department official, told ABC News. “They are not between good and bad policies. They’re between bad and worse policies.”

Biden’s decision making is made only more complicated by the impending election, they said. Many Republicans, including Donald Trump, have accused him of being weak in his response to Iran-backed groups and their attacks on U.S. forces.

“He’s in a politically tough spot because policy would compel him to think about this and act with a scalpel,” the Center for a New American Security’s Jonathan Lord said. “But this being an election this year, and this being probably the premier foreign policy issue Republicans are lining up to cudgel him with, he can’t let policy be the only consideration here. Politics, of course, plays a role.”

Feb 02, 4:48 PM
US strikes aimed at more than 85 targets, targeted Iran’s IRGC and militia groups: CENTCOM

In a new statement, U.S. Central Command said American forces “conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups.”

“U.S. military forces struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States,” CENTCOM said. “The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions. The facilities that were struck included command and control operations, centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aired vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces.”

According to a U.S. official, B-1 bombers were used in the retaliatory strikes.

-ABC News’ Anne Flaherty

Feb 02, 4:17 PM
US begins retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria, officials say

Retaliatory U.S. airstrikes have begun in Syria and Iraq, U.S. officials say.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez

Feb 02, 3:59 PM
Correction: Initial round of strikes not from US

An initial battery of strikes in Syria did not come from the U.S., sources say. U.S. strikes are still anticipated.

Feb 02, 3:08 PM
Blinken, in coming Middle East visit, to continue work on preventing wider conflict

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will travel to the Middle East from Sunday to Thursday, making stops in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and the West Bank.

It will mark Blinken’s fifth visit to the region since Oct. 7.

One focus, according to the State Department, will be to continue work to prevent the conflict from spreading — a major concern as the U.S. readies retaliatory strikes — while also “reaffirming that the United States will take appropriate steps to defend its personnel and the right to freedom of navigation in the Red Sea.”

Feb 02, 2:30 PM
Biden attends dignified transfer ceremony for fallen troops

Biden joined grieving families at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware to witness the return of the remains of three fallen Army reservists killed in Jordan.

He was accompanied by first lady Jill Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown.

They met with the families privately before receiving the remains, the White House said.

The Pentagon identified the fallen soldiers as Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia.; Spc. Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross, Georgia.; and Spc. Breonna Alexsondria Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia.

Feb 02, 1:59 PM
What we know about the drone attack on US base in Jordan

The U.S. has attributed the drone attack on the American base in Jordan to the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias.

According to a U.S. official, the drone that successfully hit the base was an Iranian-made Shahed drone, similar to those used by the Russians on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Iran has denied involvement in the Jordan strike. But President Joe Biden earlier this week faulted Iran for providing munitions and funding to these different proxy groups.

The U.S. base is known as Tower 22, a major logistical hub for U.S. troops still in Syria on a mission to prevent a resurgence by Islamic State fighters. According to Central Command, there are approximately 350 U.S. Army and Air Force personnel deployed to the base.

Feb 02, 1:45 PM
US will have a ‘multi-tiered’ response

The Biden administration has been preparing to strike back in the Middle East after three American troops were killed and dozens more wounded in a drone attack in Jordan on Sunday.

“We will have multi-tiered response, and again, we have the ability to respond a number of times depending on what the situation is,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Thursday.

The Pentagon has declined to get into specifics on when and where the strikes would take place, although Austin said the goal is to degrade the capabilities of Iran-backed militants without plunging the region into a broader war

A U.S. official familiar with the plan said the strikes will unfold across several days and hit multiple countries including Iraq, Syria and possibly Yemen.

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