- The United States attacked an Iranian Revolutionary Guard base in Abu Kamal on the Iraq-Syria border.
- The US claims it was an arms cache and operational center.
- The attack was in response to ongoing attacks on American military bases in the region.
- The US is reinforcing its presence in the Middle East with more aircraft, troops, and naval forces.
- The USS Eisenhower is on its way to the Gulf and will anchor off the coast of Iran.
- There is a possibility of a confrontation between the US and Iran, but neither leader likely wants direct conflict.
- The proxies of Iran may be causing instability in the Levant region.

The US launched retaliatory airstrikes on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to the Pentagon.

Sky's military analyst Michael Clarke analyses the significance of these developments.

Read more: https://news.sky.com/israel-hamas-war

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The prospect of this crisis becoming a more general regional crisis took another small uptick this morning early on when the United States attacked IRGC Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases or a base in Abu Kamal right on the border between Iraq and Syria and the United States said that this was an arms cache and an operational center which is entirely plausible.

They attacked it with 2 F-16 aircraft which are the great workhorse of the American Air Force, the sort of F-16s that Ukraine will be getting next year but these are the sort of things they use for it and the reasons that the Americans attack this base is because they have been subject to attack day after day in the last week or so in particular at the Al-Tanf military base just on the southeast of Syria and more at the Al-Asad military base in Iraq.

1 of the local groups, the Islamic Revolutionary Group of Iraq, claim lots more attacks on military bases.

The Americans haven't confirmed that, but undoubtedly many attacks are taking place on American troops so the Americans are responding to make it clear that they will not tolerate attacks even though nobody's been killed yet, there have been quite a few injuries and they don't want this trend to continue.

The United States is reinforcing all of its power in the Middle East with more aircraft going in, more troops being put on standby and naval forces.

It's going to form a second carrier battle group.

It was announced last week and everyone said yes, the Eisenhower is going to the Gulf and everyone sort of assumes that well they said that it must be in the Gulf by now.

Well no, this was it leaving Norfolk Virginia at its base on the 14th of October.

As of today it was still in the Atlantic probably gathering its task group together and drilling and exercising and so on.

It'll go through the Straits of Gibraltar, then the Suez Canal, then it'll be in the Gulf in a few days.

And it will anchor or stay, hang around, off the coast of Iran.

And of course that raises the possibility that there is a confrontation brewing between the United States and Iran, a direct confrontation between President Biden and Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran.

The point is that neither of these leaders and neither of these powers probably want a direct confrontation.

But as of now it isn't clear whether they are strong enough or powerful enough to prevent 1 when the proxies of Iran appear to be about to run amok in certain parts of the Levant.


Speaker 0: The prospect of this crisis becoming a more general regional crisis took another small uptick this morning early on when the United States attacked IRGC Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases or a base in Abu Kamal right on the border between Iraq and Syria and the United States said that this was an arms cache and an operational center which is entirely plausible. They attacked it with 2 F-16 aircraft which are the great workhorse of the American Air Force, the sort of F-16s that Ukraine will be getting next year but these are the sort of things they use for it and the reasons that the Americans attack this base is because they have been subject to attack day after day in the last week or so in particular at the Al-Tanf military base just on the southeast of Syria and more at the Al-Asad military base in Iraq. 1 of the local groups, the Islamic Revolutionary Group of Iraq, claim lots more attacks on military bases. The Americans haven't confirmed that, but undoubtedly many attacks are taking place on American troops so the Americans are responding to make it clear that they will not tolerate attacks even though nobody's been killed yet, there have been quite a few injuries and they don't want this trend to continue.

The United States is reinforcing all of its power in the Middle East with more aircraft going in, more troops being put on standby and naval forces. This is the USS Eisenhower. It's going to form a second carrier battle group. It was announced last week and everyone said yes, the Eisenhower is going to the Gulf and everyone sort of assumes that well they said that it must be in the Gulf by now. Well no, this was it leaving Norfolk Virginia at its base on the 14th of October.

As of today it was still in the Atlantic probably gathering its task group together and drilling and exercising and so on. It'll go through the Straits of Gibraltar, then the Suez Canal, then it'll be in the Gulf in a few days. And it will anchor or stay, hang around, off the coast of Iran. And of course that raises the possibility that there is a confrontation brewing between the United States and Iran, a direct confrontation between President Biden and Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran. The point is that neither of these leaders and neither of these powers probably want a direct confrontation.

But as of now it isn't clear whether they are strong enough or powerful enough to prevent 1 when the proxies of Iran appear to be about to run amok in certain parts of the Levant.

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Israel-Hamas war: US fighter jets strike Iran-linked locations in Syria