US says strikes on Iran-linked targets just 'the beginning'

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has left the US for the Middle East - his fifth visit to the region since the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel that led to the war in Gaza.

During his four-day trip, Blinken will meet with officials in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Israel, and the occupied West Bank.

Earlier on Sunday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Blinken's "top priority" will be reaching a new agreement to secure the release of all remaining Israeli hostages and to implement another pause in hostilities to allow for the delivery of more humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza.

In the last hour the US military has released new video footage from some of the strikes it launched on Yemen on Saturday.

The footage, put out by Central Command, shows launches from various ships - with the missiles heading towards Houthi targets.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has defended the latest strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, saying they acted with the US in "self-defence" and "in a proportionate way".

He repeated that he "won't hesitate to protect British lives", in a signal that he will not be undeterred from approving further bombing raids if the Houthi attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea continue.

Sunak added that the Houthis' "illegal" harassment campaign in the Red Sea is having "economic consequences".

There have been concerns that the group's attacks on commercial ships could drive up prices as cargo companies are forced to embark on huge detours due to the threat of attack. Earlier, we also heard from Egypt who said its income has been hit.

CENTCOMCopyright: CENTCOM

Turning now to the other US military campaign this weekend - the strikes against the Houthis in Yemen - and Houthi officials have been defiant in response to the US-led strikes on Saturday.

The group's military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said there had been 48 air strikes conducted on Houthi targets.

The strikes landed in six provinces, he said - the capital Sana'a, the Red Sea coastal province of Al-Hudaydah, Taiz, Al-Bayda, Hajjah and Saada.

"These attacks will not deter us from our moral, religious, and humanitarian stance in support of the resilient Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and will not go unanswered or unpunished," Sarea wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

US President Joe Biden has today released a statement giving some details about the strikes in Iraq and Syria. It's the paperwork he needs to do, under law, to notify Congress within 48 hours of launching military action.

In the letter, he says that the strikes targeted facilities used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated militia groups used for "command and control, weapons storage, training, logistics support, and other purposes".

The IRGC is believed to have armed, funded and trained the militant organisation behind last weekend's drone attack that killed three US soldiers..

Biden added that the strikes aimed to deter these groups from further attacks, and were taken in a way "to limit the risk of escalation and avoid civilian casualties".

Biden also said that he would "direct additional measures, including against the IRGC and IRGC-affiliated personnel and facilities, as appropriate".

A senior veteran member of an Iranian-backed militia group was killed during the US air strikes in Syria, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.

The semi-official news agency, which is known for being close to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, said the 65-year-old veteran member, Hamzeh Alavi, was killed in Syria's Deir al-Zour province. He was a member of Fatemiyoun Brigade, an Iran-backed militia formed mainly by Afghan and Pakistani Shia fighters.

The BBC has not been able to independently verify the claim.

Some Iranian media have been understating the US air strikes on Iraq and Syria, claiming they hit mostly “empty” spots - but this suggests otherwise.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

The base which was hit in a deadly drone attack in a north-west corner of Jordan last Sunday is one of more than a dozen where US military personnel operate across Iraq, Jordan and Syria.

In recent months, these bases - ranging in size from a military outpost such as Tower 22, to the Al Asad air base in western Iraq - have been attacked by militias trained, funded and equipped by Iran.

There are about 3,000 US troops based in Jordan, a key US ally, and 2,500 in Iraq - there at the invitation of the Iraqi government as part of a US-led coalition to prevent a resurgence of the jihadist Islamic State group, which still has a presence there after being routed in 2017.

There are also about 900 US personnel in Syria, officially there to support its anti-IS ally the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in Syria's semi-autonomous north-east region.

The Syria government opposes the US presence in its country, calling it an occupation.

The US also maintains many more bases further afield across the Middle East, including three major air bases in the Gulf and a port in Bahrain which serves as the headquarters of the US Naval Forces Central Command and the US Fifth Fleet.

• You can read more on this here.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

An Iraqi government spokesman has been telling the BBC that there was no warning from the US about a series of air strikes on Friday night against Iranian-backed militia groups in the country.

"No warning was given during the strike or the night of the strike," Farhad Alaaldin, a senior adviser to Iraq's prime minister, tells the Newshour programme - and the Iraqi government only became aware of the strikes once they had started.

But he adds the "issue of warning or no warning makes no difference to the fact of the matter that Iraq is a sovereign state".

"Iraq's call is very clear, demanding these attacks to be stopped and there should be no future attacks on Iraq territory," he says.

He says he wants Iraq to become a state with "a normal relationship with international community" and not "become an arena for settling scores".

The White House National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, has done a round of interviews on the US networks’ Sunday shows.

He’s been commenting on the US air strikes on Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria on Friday, as well as the ongoing joint military action with the UK and other nations against the Houthi group in Yemen.

Sullivan drew a distinction between the two military campaigns. The action against the Houthis, he said, is linked to the threat to Red Sea shipping. The group’s attacks on commercial and military vessels off the coast of Yemen have disrupted global trade in one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes.

But the strikes on Iran-affiliated groups in Iraq and Syria were about sending "a strong message about the United States’ firm resolve to respond when our forces are attacked”. The national security adviser reiterated that these strikes are part of a continuing campaign and more should be expected - something White House officials have said several times in the past few days.

When questioned, Sullivan also refused to rule out direct military strikes on Iran itself. He said it “would not be wise” to discuss publicly what Washington has “ruled in and ruled out” in terms of military action. So far, the US has refrained from hitting targets on Iranian territory for fears of provoking a wider escalation in the Middle East.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Egypt says revenue from the Suez Canal plunged by almost half in January as Houthi attacks on the Red Sea forced major shipping companies to avoid the waterway.

The income is crucial for Egypt, which is suffering its worst economic crisis in decades.

Egypt says its income from the key trade artery was just under $430m (£340m), down from $800m (£633m) in the same period last year.

The number of ships is also down by more than a third, in a sign that the Houthi attacks are affecting not just commercial shipping but Egyptian coffers.

The Suez Canal is a vital source of foreign income for Egypt's economy, raising more than $10bn (£8bn) last year.

AHMED JALIL/EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockCopyright: AHMED JALIL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

In Baghdad today a fleet of ambulances carried not the living but the dead – 17 Iraqi fighters killed by the US in bombing raids on Friday night. They were members of militias backed by Iran.

Militia men in uniform stood in silence lining both sides of the road, many holding the white flags of Iraq’s Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), an alliance of mainly pro-Tehran groups. Officially they are part of Iraq’s security forces, but in many ways they are foot soldiers for Iran.

As the crowd followed the ambulances – holding aloft pictures of the victims - there were chants of “America is the greatest devil”.

The US strikes have increased the pressure for US troops to leave Iraq. The government in Baghdad has accused the White House of threatening the stability of Iraq and the region with its “aggression”.

As the PMF mourned and honoured its dead, the mood was muted. There were no fiery threats of retaliation. Tehran doesn’t want an escalation in the tit for tat. Neither does Washington.

While the war rages in Gaza, one false move could set the region alight.

AHMED JALIL/EPA-EFE/REX/ShutterstockCopyright: AHMED JALIL/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

There's been extensive focus in the Arabic-language press on the strikes against Iranian-linked sites in Iraq and Syria by the US last Friday.

Here's some of the reaction.

Many dailies, such as Emirati daily al-Khaleej, show concern about an "increasing level of tensions”.

Egyptian privately-owned daily newspaper Al-Masry al-Youm calls the strikes "US revenge" and highlights internal criticism within the US over their timing.

The chief editor of London-based pan-Arab website Rai al-Youm lambasts Washington for "brutal flagrant aggression" against Iraq and Syria. He adds that US President Joe Biden has committed a "great sin” and accuses Israel of "dragging" the US into war in Iraq.

Saudi journalist Tariq al-Homayed, writing in pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, criticises both the Iran-backed militia for “targeting regional stability” and US strategy, describing the region's situation as "attrition".

Syrian journalist Absi Smeisem writes in the Qatar-affiliated pan-Arab Al-Araby al-Jadeed that the US carried out its strikes in a way "closer to a media show". He also says the strikes “will not change the scope of Iranian presence in Syria”.

ReutersCopyright: Reuters

Oman has now weighed in on the US strikes in Iraq and Syria on Friday, with the foreign minister expressing "grave concerns over the continuous escalation in the region".

In a statement shared with the Oman News Agency, Badr Albusaidi criticised the effectiveness of the retaliatory attacks, noting that "such actions compromise the region's safety, stability, and efforts to tackle challenges like violence and extremism".

Now that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has said the US retaliation to the Jordan attack that killed three American soldiers will continue, here's a look back at what has happened since Friday:

• The response started on Friday with strikes against Iranian-backed groups in Syria and Iraq

• US President Joe Biden said in a statement after the first strike that "Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing"
• The US struck Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militias in seven locations - four in Syria and three in Iraq - with more than 85 targets being struck
• The US continues to say that it is not seeking a war with Iran and does not want to trigger a wider war in the Middle East
• Iran condemned the strikes and denied any involvement in the Jordan attacks
• Since then, an Iranian-backed group called “Islamic Resistance in Iraq” claimed responsibility for the drone attack on Telegram
• Both the Iraqi and the Syrian governments have condemned the strikes
• A spokesperson for Iraq's prime minister said they would bring "disastrous consequences for the security and stability of Iraq and the region"

• Separately, the US and the UK have also launched strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen following attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea

Let's turn our attention back to Yemen, where human rights activist Radhya al-Mutawakel, who lives in Yemen's capital city Sana'a, has been describing her experience of last night's air strikes to the BBC.

Quote Message: We've heard the aeroplanes hovering over our heads." from Sana'a resident Radhya al-Mutawakel

We've heard the aeroplanes hovering over our heads."

"There were very strong air strikes in some areas," she says.

Radhya continues by saying many people in Yemen's capital found that "their houses were shaking".

But she adds that she hasn't heard of any "civilian casualties" yet.

As we've been reporting, the US and UK launched air strikes on 36 Houthi targets in Yemen to deter the group from disrupting international shipping in the Red Sea.

Speaking about the war in Gaza and the humanitarian crisis in particular, the White House national security adviser tells the US media it will be a "top priority" for Antony Blinken's upcoming visit to the Middle East.

The US Secretary of State Blinken is en route to the region on a trip that will include stops in Israel, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the West Bank this week.

Sullivan says that a hostage deal with Hamas that gets a pause in the hostilities in Gaza is in the national security interest of the United States.

"We are going to press for it relentlessly," Sullivan says. "So this is a paramount priority for us."

But the ball is in Hamas's court, he adds, noting that the Israelis have put forward a proposal.

He adds that Palestinians have a right to return to their homes in Gaza.

Reuters/Evelyn HocksteinCopyright: Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein

We are hearing a bit more from US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan as he continues to speak to the US media.

Speaking about the actions of Iran-backed militias in the Middle East, he says the US "is prepared to deal with anything that any group comes" at them with.

Sullivan has also declined to say whether the US has ruled out strikes inside Iran, but says more strikes in the region are planned.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says that there will be more steps in the American response to the Jordan drone attack which killed three soldiers last Sunday.

As well as joint air strikes with the UK on Houthi rebels in Yemen, the US has been carrying out air strikes on Iran-backed targets in Syria and Iraq.

Speaking to US media, Sullivan says "What happened on Friday was the beginning, not the end, of our response, and there will be more steps - some seen, some perhaps unseen.

"I would not describe it as some open-ended military campaign."

He also adds that there is no sign Iran has shifted its policy on militia groups, and the US will respond if it continues to see threats and attacks.

Sullivan also adds that the US is prepared for responses to its attacks and believes that so far the strikes "had good effect in degrading militia capabilities".

Reuters/Violeta Santos MouraCopyright: Reuters/Violeta Santos Moura