Syria airstrikes: President Biden protected US personnel, facilities, says White House
Washington: The White House has said that through the airstrikes in Syria, President Joe Biden protected US personnel and facilities, and deterred the risk of additional attacks "over the coming weeks".
On Thursday, airstrikes in Syria targeted facilities belonging to a powerful Iranian-backed Iraqi armed group, reportedly killing one fighter and wounding several others.
The strikes came in the wake of recent attacks on US interests in Iraq, including a rocket attack last week which killed a civilian contractor and injured a US service member and other coalition troops.
"The president is sending an unambiguous message that he's going to act to protect Americans, and when threats are posed, he has the right to take action at the time, and in the manner of his choosing," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters.
"He also is going to take these actions in a manner that's deliberative, and that has the objective of de-escalating activity in both Syria and Iraq," she said.
Asked if the airstrikes influences reopening talks with Iran, Psaki said the status of that, at this point in time, remains that the US is open to having these diplomatic conversations.
Right now the Europeans have issued an invitation and "we are waiting to hear back , she said.
Responding to a question on the legal authority of conducting the strikes in Syria, Psaki said as a matter of domestic law, the president took this action pursuant to his article two authority to defend US personnel.
"The targets were chosen to... correspond to the recent attacks on facilities, and to deter the risk of additional attacks over the coming weeks. As a matter of international law, the US acted pursuant to its right to self defence as reflected in Article 50-1 of the UN Charter. The strikes were both necessary to address the threat and proportionate to the prior attacks, Psaki said.
She added that the national security team conducted a legal review in advance.
At a separate news conference, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that in the last 10 days there were multiple occasions attacks on American people, positions, interests that took lives and injured others.
"So we had both to respond to those attacks but also to an ongoing threat that was very clear," he said.
"We took this action that I think was focused, proportionate, but also effective in degrading some of the capacity that the militia in question had to perpetrate new attacks, and also to be very clear, notably to Iran, that they cannot act with impunity against our people, our partners, our interests. I think and expect that the message was clearly received, Blinken said.
Congressman Adam Smith, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said that the Syrian strike should serve as a reminder that the US will always defend its partners, allies and interests.
This strike against an Iranian-backed militia was defensive in nature, following multiple rocket attacks against our forces in Iraq. The strike was proportional and appropriate given the recent, regrettable actions by Iran-backed militias who have targeted our forces in Iraq, whose mission is to assist the Iraqi people in their fight against ISIS, Smith said.
Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna opposed the attack.
"This makes President Biden the seventh consecutive US president to order strikes in the Middle East. There is absolutely no justification for a president to authorize a military strike that is not in self-defense against an imminent threat without congressional authorisation, Khanna said.
We ran on ending wars, not escalating conflicts in the Middle East. Our foreign policy needs to be rooted in diplomacy and the rule of law, not retaliatory air strikes without Congressional authorization, he said in a tweet.
The US needs to extricate from the Middle East, not escalate. The president should not be taking these actions without seeking explicit authorisation, Khanna said.
He said that he had spoken "against endless war with (former president Donald) Trump, and I will speak out against it when we have a Democratic President".
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Air Marshal Seethepalli Shrinivas assumes charge as IAF AOC-in-C, training command
Bengaluru (PTI): Air Marshal Seethepalli Shrinivas took over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Training Command, Indian Air Force on Thursday.
An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Air Marshal Shrinivas was commissioned in the fighter stream of IAF on 13 June 1987, an official statement said.
Air Marshal Shrinivas is a ‘Category A' Qualified Flying Instructor with over 4,200 hours of flying experience on MiG-21, Iskra, Kiran, PC-7 Mk II, HPT-32 and Microlite amongst other aircraft.
The AOC-in-C is also qualified as a second pilot on Chetak / Cheetah helicopter and a categorised Operations Officer on the Pechora missile system.
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The Air Marshal has held a number of command appointments in his career.
He has been the Commandant of the Air Force Academy, Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of a frontline fighter base on the Western border, and a premier flying training base, AOC Advance HQ Western Air Command (Jaipur), Commanding Officer of the prestigious Flying Instructors’ School, Commandant of the Institute of Aerospace Safety and CO of Basic Flying Training School.
His staff and other appointments include Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Personnel Officers), Chief Instructor (Flying) at Air Force Academy, Ops Staff at HQ Central Air Command and Directing Staff at College of Air Warfare. Prior to his current assignment, he was the Senior Air Staff Officer at HQ SWAC.
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Air Marshal Shrinivas is a graduate of National Defence College, College of Defence Management and Defence Services Staff College. His educational qualifications include Master of Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Studies, Master of Management Studies and Master of Science in Defence and Strategic Studies.
In recognition of his meritorious services, he was awarded the Vishisht Seva Medal in 2017 and the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal in 2024 by the President of India.
After assumption of his new appointment, the Air Marshal paid homage to bravehearts by laying a wreath at the Training Command War Memorial.
