By Tiffany Williams –
Enroute to India Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III held an off-camera, on-the-record briefing with traveling press.
Opening the briefing Secretary Austin confirmed “Today at President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces conducted a self-defense strike on a facility in Syria used by the IRGC and affiliated groups. We took these strikes in response to a series of attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed proxy groups. You’ve heard us say before, the president and I have no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and today’s actions are intended to make clear that the United States will defend itself, our personnel and our interests. And we remain fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities, and we urge against any escalation.”
When asked about continued attacks on Israel from the north, and on U.S. facilities in Syria and Iraq, and if he felt like deterrence was working, Secretary Austin said, “We are responding to a number of attacks against our forces, and these are defensive strikes. They are not connected to what Israel is doing in its efforts against Hamas.” He added, “So in terms of deterrence overall, our goal is to make sure that the conflict that’s in Gaza doesn’t expand and become a region-wide conflict. And so to this point, we don’t think that that’s happened, and we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that it doesn’t happen.”
When asked if after today’s airstrike, if he expects the number of attacks against U.S. troops by Iranian-affiliated groups will decrease, Secretary Austin said, “If the attacks against our forces don’t decrease or stop, we will take additional measures. And you know, as I said early on here, I think we’re going to do everything we can to protect our troops, and we are absolutely serious about that.