The US retaliatory overnight airstrike targeting Iran-linked stations in Iraq and Syria has killed over 30 people. According to Iraq, the strikes had claimed around 16 lives, including civilians. After the immense damage and loss of lives, Iraq has warned of "disastrous consequences" for the region.
Iraq Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's office said that, 16 people were killed, among them included civilians, and 25 injured in overnight US airstrikes.
While condemning the strikes, Iraq said in a statement that it is a "new aggression against Iraq's sovereignty".
The statement also said, “The presence of the US-led military coalition in the region has become a reason for threatening security and stability in Iraq and a justification for involving Iraq in regional and international conflicts".
Amid reports of US strikes was coordinated with the help of Iraq government, PM al-Sudani said that it was all “lies”.
Yahya Rasool, a spokesman for Iraq’s prime minister said, "These airstrikes constitute a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the efforts of the Iraqi government, and pose a threat that could lead Iraq and the region into disastrous consequences."
The Iraqi foreign ministry on Saturday summoned the US charg d'affaires in Baghdad to deliver a formal memorandum of protest over the airstrikes in Iraq, the state news agency INA reported.
Meanwhile, Syria's foreign ministry said the US is fueling conflict in the Middle East in a "dangerous way".
The US airstrike hit over 85 targets linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and other militias on Friday night. This was the first retaliatory strikes launched by US after the Jordan attack, that claimed lives of three US troops.
Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said in a statement the US attacks represented "another adventurous and strategic mistake by the United States that will result only in increased tension in instability in the region".
Meanwhile, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the strikes killed 23 people, who had been guarding the targeted locations.
However, US President Joe Biden said that his nation is not seeking conflict in Middle East. "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," Biden stated.
