Washington claims that “protecting” its illegal outposts is “consistent with international law”
US President Joe Biden has offered legal justification for American airstrikes on eastern Syria this week, saying the operations were a rightful response to a string of drone and rocket attacks on US forces in the region.
In a letter to US lawmakers published on Friday, the White House said the air operations were in line with presidential war powers, and followed repeated “attacks against United States personnel and facilities in Iraq and Syria” this month.
“At my direction, on the night of October 26, 2023, United States forces conducted targeted strikes against facilities in eastern Syria,” Biden said, adding that the sorties hit sites used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and “affiliated groups.”