All news
Updated at: 

US strikes on facilities in Syria not related to Middle East conflict — Pentagon

"These narrowly tailored strikes in self-defense were intended solely to protect and defend US personnel in Iraq and Syria," Lloyd Austin said

WASHINGTON, October 27. /TASS/. The United States carried out its latest strikes on facilities used by Iran in Syria in self-defense, and they are not related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said.

"These narrowly tailored strikes in self-defense were intended solely to protect and defend US personnel in Iraq and Syria. They are separate and distinct from the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas," Austin said in a statement, published by the Pentagon’s press service.

The US secretary of defense added that these measures “do not constitute a shift in our approach to the Israel-Hamas conflict.”

“We continue to urge all state and non-state entities not to take action that would escalate into a broader regional conflict,” Austin said.

The Pentagon reported that at US President Joe Biden’s direction, US military forces had conducted strikes on two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups late on October 26.

The situation in the Middle East has escalated abruptly after an armed infiltration of HAMAS militant from the Gaza Strip into Israel. The HAMAS movement considers this attack a response to the actions of Israeli authorities towards the Al Aqsa Mosque at the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Israel announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip and started carrying out strikes at the enclave and at certain areas of Lebanon and Syria. Clashes also take place in the West Bank.