The United States has stated that it did not participate in an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy compound in Damascus, which resulted in the killing of two Iranian military leaders and five military advisors. The White House National Security spokesperson, John Kirby, described the Iranian accusations of Washington’s responsibility for the attack on Monday as “nonsense” and warned that his country would respond to any retaliatory attacks.
In a press briefing, he stated, “Let me make it very clear. We had nothing to do with the attack in Damascus… We were not involved in any way.” The attack on the Iranian embassy has raised concerns about escalating the ongoing conflict between Israel on one side and Iran and its affiliated factions on the other, which has worsened since the outbreak of fighting in October between Israeli forces and the Iran-aligned Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip.
In response to US support for Israel, factions allied with Iran targeted US military bases in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. However, these attacks have ceased since early February following retaliatory US strikes. Kirby said, “We always take seriously the protection of our forces… and our installations in Iraq and Syria… We will do everything we can to protect those forces.”
The spokesperson for the US Department of Defense (Pentagon), Sabrina Singh, stated that Israel did not provide any prior warning regarding the strike on the Iranian mission headquarters in the Syrian capital.
