The Washington Post U.S. conducts retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria; Israeli offensive pivots to Rafah Updated February 2, 2024 at 11:03 p.m. EST|Published February 2, 2024 at 2:01 a.m. EST

 The Washington Post 

U.S. conducts retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria; Israeli offensive pivots to Rafah

Updated February 2, 2024 at 11:03 p.m. EST|Published February 2, 2024 at 2:01 a.m. EST

The United States conducted strikes in Iraq and Syria on Friday, beginning what the Biden administration said will be a multiday retaliatory campaign against Iranian-aligned militants whom the White House blames for the killing of three U.S. soldiers in Jordan on Sunday.

“Our response began today,” President Biden said in a statement following the strikes. “It will continue at times and places of our choosing.” He said the United States “does not seek conflict in the Middle East” but cautioned that attacks against Americans would garner a response.

The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group comprising multiple militias backed by Iran, claimed responsibility for the Jan. 28 attack. Israel’s defense minister said the focus of Israel’s military operation will turn to Rafah — a city in southern Gaza that is now said to be home to almost half the enclave’s population.

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U.S. Central Command said that American forces, using aircraft including long-range bombers flown from the United States, hit more than 85 targets affiliated with Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force and local militias it supports.

The U.S. Treasury issued new sanctions against Iran on Friday. The actions target officials in an Iranian government agency the U.S. accused of cyberattacks, as well as entities in Iran and Hong Kong involved in procuring materials and technology for the Iranian drone program.

The U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which aids Palestinian refugees, renewed its plea for major donor countries to reverse their decisions to suspend funding after Israel charged that its staffers participated in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks. UNRWA said nearly 2 million people depend on the agency for “sheer survival.”

At least 27,131 people have been killed and 66,287 injured in the Gaza Strip since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack.

11:03 p.m. EST

U.S. retaliates after deadly attack on Jordan base

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By Missy Ryan, Dan Lamothe and Alex Horton

U.S. forces launched a broad attack against Iran’s paramilitary force and affiliated militias in Iraq and Syria on Friday, delivering a blow to armed groups that Washington has blamed for killing American troops in Jordan and a toxic surge of violence across the Middle East.

U.S. Central Command said that American forces, using aircraft including long-range bombers flown from the United States, hit more than 85 targets affiliated with Iran’s powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Quds Force and local militias it supports, including command centers, intelligence sites and drone storage sites.

The operation appeared to mark the opening of what officials have said would be a multiday campaign aimed at various targets close to Iran, which the Biden administration has blamed for a spiraling of militant violence since the start of Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, including a drone attack Sunday that killed three U.S. service members and injured dozens more at a remote outpost in Jordan.

This is an excerpt from a full story.