President Joe Biden has praised the US military for helping the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) repel a large-scale Iranian attack against Israeli military facilities.
“At my direction, to support the defense of Israel, the US military moved aircraft and ballistic missile defense destroyers to the region over the course of the past week. Thanks to these deployments and the extraordinary skill of our servicemembers, we helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” Biden said in a statement published by the White House following a late night phone conversation with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu.
The president also reaffirmed America’s “ironclad” commitment to protect Israel, while commending Israel’s “remarkable capacity” to defend against and defeat its adversaries.
Biden said he would summon G7 leaders to discuss a joint response to Iran’s military action against Israel – indicating that the reaction would be diplomatic.
“We will remain vigilant to all threats and will not hesitate to take all necessary action to protect our people,” Biden stressed, while acknowledging that US forces and facilities were not affected by Tehran’s strikes.
On Saturday evening, Iran launched a coordinated multi-wave drone and missile attack on Israeli military facilities. Tehran said it was in retaliation for an airstrike allegedly conducted by the IDF on the Iranian consulate in Syria, which killed seven officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, including two high-ranking generals.
The IRGC claimed the operation – True Promise – was a success, with multiple “important” Israeli facilities destroyed. The IDF, however, insists that most of the UAVs were destroyed mid-air, with only minor damage resulting from the attack.