UK supports US response against Iran-backed militias in Syria: Foreign Secretary

The United Kingdom supports the United States’ response against Iranian-backed groups, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Friday following overnight airstrikes by Washington on Syria.

US President Joe Biden had ordered military forces to carry out strikes against Iran-backed in the Middle Eastern country, including Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS).

The UK supports the US targeted response against militia groups which attack coalition bases in an effort to destabilize the region. We recognize the threat posed by the militia and share the US aim to work together with partners to de-escalate the situation,” Raab tweeted on Friday.

Syrian state-owned Ekhbariya TV said the strikes had been at dawn against several targets near the Syrian-Iraqi border, and quoted a medical source at a hospital in the area and other unspecified local sources as saying 17 people had been killed. Reuters could not be independently confirmed.

Syria has yet to make an official comment.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday said that the US gave Russia several minutes of advance warning before it carried out a strike in Syria, the RIA news agency reported.

Lavrov also called on Biden to renew contacts with Moscow over Syria to clarify the new administration’s position on Syria, the Interfax news agency reported.

Source : Agencies