US airstrikes – live: Iran warning after US-UK campaign in Yemen, Iraq and Syria

The US launched airstrikes against Iranian forces and allied militias in Iraq and Syria on Friday as it began its retaliation for a drone attack that killed three US soldiers in Jordan last week.

Dozens of strikes launched by long-range bombers flown from the US targeted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups just hours after President Joe Biden received the remains of the three service members at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Mr Biden said in a statement that he had ordered US military forces to strike at “facilities that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack US forces.”

“Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing. The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond,” Mr Biden said.

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In the Red Sea, the Houthis have fired on commercial and military ships almost 40 times since November. In the latest attack, they fired a ballistic missile at a Liberian-flagged container ship on Thursday, U.S. defense officials said.

The attack happened west of Hodeida, a port city in Yemen long held by the rebels, said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, a British military group overseeing Mideast waterways. It said the crew and the vessel were safe and the blast came far off the vessel’s starboard side.

The US defense officials identified the targeted container ship as the Koi, a Bermuda-owned vessel. Its management could not be immediately reached for comment. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters. The Houthis did not claim responsibility for the assault.

“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,” a statement from the US, UK and other countries supporting the strikes said.

Today’s strike specifically targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ deeply buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems and launchers, air defense systems and radars.”

Iran has called US air strikes on Iraq and Syria a “strategic mistake” after 85 targets were hit across the region on Friday.

A spokesman for Iraq’s prime minister said the strikes were a “violation” of his country’s sovereignty and that they would impact “the security and stability of Iraq and the region”.

Syria added that the US “occupation” of Syrian territory “cannot continue”.

An official from an Iranian-backed militia hinted at the desire to de-escalate tensions in the Middle East after the US launched retaliatory strikes in Iraq and Syria following the death of three American soldiers.

Hussein al-Mosawi, a spokesperson for Harakat al-Nujaba, one of the main Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, told The Associated Press that, “we do not wish to escalate or widen regional tensions.”

Mr Mosawi said that the targeted sites the US was striking in Iraq were “devoid of fighters and military personnel” but that “every action elicits a reaction.”

The US and Britain jointly struck 36 Houthi targets across 13 locations in Yemen on Saturday in retaliation against the ongoing onslaught in the Red Sea.

The US deployed F/A-18 fighter jets from the USS Dwight D Eisenhower aircraft carrier, while the British military extended their Typhoon FGR4 fighter aircraft.

The navy destroyers USS Gravely and the USS Carney fired additional Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea, the authorities said.

The Iran-backed Houthis in a statement said the US strikes “will not pass without a response and consequences”.

The US and Britain launched their third bout of airstrikes attacking 36 Houthi targets in Yemen on Saturday against the ongoing onslaught on Israel-linked vessels in the Red Sea.

The strikes hit buried weapons storage facilities, missile systems, launchers and other capabilities the Houthis have used to attack Red Sea shipping, the Pentagon said, adding it targeted 13 locations across Yemen.

The UN Security Council will meet on Monday to discuss America’s retaliatory airstrikes on Iraq and Syria.

The “urgent” meeting was requested by Russia amid the escalating crisis in the Middle East.

“We just demanded an urgent sitting of the UN Security Council over the threat to peace and safety created by US strikes on Syria and Iraq,” Moscow’s UN mission said in a post on X.

Amid conflicting reports from Iraqi government officials and US government officials, a senior administrator told NBC News that Iraq did in fact receive warnings of American airstrikes prior to the action.

Though the US did not give Iraq a “huge heads up” they said it would be inaccurate to claim Iraq did not know beforehand.

Iraqi Prime Minister, Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani, previously said the US’s claim that they notified Iraq beforehand was “lies.”