The Strategic Communications Coordinator at the White House, John Kirby said that US President Joe Biden made his decision to strike the Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces in Syria, within a very short period of time.
“He (Biden) had discussions with the national security team, received recommendations from senior officials in the Department of Defense and the intelligence about response possibilities, and the president made the decision very quickly to authorize strikes against these specific targets,” Kirby told CNN.
Earlier, the Pentagon announced that on Thursday, US forces launched a series of air strikes on targets in Syria that may be linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
The Pentagon said in a statement that, earlier on the same day, Thursday, an American contractor was killed and five members of the US military were injured, in addition to another contractor, after a drone targeted a maintenance facility at a base of the international coalition near Al-Hasakah in northeastern Syria.
The statement added that the drone was, according to the intelligence assessment, “of Iranian origin.”
The statement quoted US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin as saying: “At the direction of President Joe Biden, the US Central Command authorized the launch of precision air strikes this evening in eastern Syria on sites used by groups associated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.”
He continued: “The air strikes came in response to today’s attack, as well as a series of recent attacks against the coalition forces in Syria by groups linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.”
Source: National Iraqi News Agency