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Iran-backed group claims strike on Syria base used by U.S. as Israel-Hamas war fuels risky tit-for-tat
Erbil, Iraq — An Iran-backed militia group in Iraq claimed responsibility Monday for a drone strike against a base in eastern Syria used by U.S. troops that killed six American-allied Kurdish fighters. The attack, which caused no American casualties, appeared to be the first significant response from what the U.S. calls Iran’s proxy groups to U.S. airstrikes against the militias in the region.
On Friday, the U.S. started striking the militias of an umbrella group known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq in response to those groups’ stepped-up attacks on U.S. bases in the region — including the deadly drone strike on a base in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members on Jan. 28.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said Monday that a drone struck a training ground the previous night at the al-Omar base in Syria’s eastern province of Deir el-Zour. The SDF trains commandos there, and some of the roughly 900 U.S. troops deployed in Syria as part of the ongoing mission against ISIS have been based there.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq released a video claiming responsibility for the attack that included purported images of the drone being launched from an unspecified location.
With its strikes over the weekend against the militias in Iraq and Syria — and ongoing strikes against the Houthi rebels in Yemen who’ve been targeting ships in the Red Sea for months — the U.S. has continued its retaliation against Iran’s affiliates across a wide geographical area. All those groups say they’ve been attacking U.S. and Israeli interests in solidarity with Palestinians, as Israel continues its war against Hamas, which is also backed by Iran, in the Gaza Strip.
The U.S. and the U.K. launched strikes against 36 Houthi targets late Saturday, targeting missile launch and radar systems in the large portion of Yemen controlled by the Shiite Muslim rebels.
The Houthis’ slogan includes calls for “death to America” and “death to Israel.” The group vowed the strikes would “not go unpunished,” and just hours later, U.S. forces said they had hit several Houthi cruise missiles that were prepared to launch against ships in the Red Sea, where American military vessels are currently deployed.
The Houthis receive the bulk of their equipment and funding from Iran, according to the U.S. government.
The strike to take out the Houthi cruise missiles — one of several preemptive strikes in Yemen by U.S. and U.K. forces in recent weeks — came just a day after the U.S. said it had struck 85 targets in Iraq and across the border in Syria. Those strikes were retaliation for the deadly attack on the American soldiers just over a week ago in Jordan, and President Biden has vowed to continue retaliating against the militias as and when the U.S. military sees fit.
The U.S. has reported around 170 attacks against American forces in this region by Iran-backed groups since the Israel-Hamas war was ignited by the Palestinian militant group’s brutal Oct. 7 terror attack on southern Israel.
Iran has repeatedly denied any role in the increasing violence and when CBS News interviewed the country’s foreign minister in November, he rejected the notion of Iran having proxy groups and said the militias in Iraq and Syria attacking U.S. interests had “made their own decisions.”
Top officials in both the U.S. and Iran have said they don’t want the war between Israel and Hamas to widen and engulf the region. But the groups backed by Iran have vowed to continue retaliating against Israel and its closest ally, the U.S., for what they say is an unjust war in Gaza, and the U.S. has vowed to continue retaliating for any attacks by those groups that put Americans in harm’s way.
AHMAD AL-RUBAYE/AFP/Getty
In addition to the roughly 900 American forces deployed in Syria, there are about 2,500 in Iraq. So, preventing any further escalation of the conflict in such a tense region with so many potential flashpoints will require a very delicate balance, in both words and actions.
NEW YORK — The Teamsters union is launching a strike against Amazon at numerous locations across the country, including in Maspeth, Queens.
The Teamsters are calling it the largest strike against Amazon in United States history, and it’s set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday. In addition to New York City, workers will be joining picket lines in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois.
In a video announcement released Wednesday night, workers voiced their frustrations.
“Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us and we want to be heard,” one worker says in the video.
“It’s really exciting. We’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, better benefits, better wages,” another worker in the video says.
The union says it represents about 10,000 Amazon employees and that Amazon ignored a deadline to come to the table and negotiate. The $2 trillion company doesn’t pay employees enough to make ends meet, the union asserts.
At the height of the holiday season, many are wondering what this means for packages currently in transit.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.”
Amazon says Teamsters are misleading the public
An Amazon spokesperson says the Teamsters are misleading the public and do not represent any Amazon employees, despite any claims.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An Amazon representative says the company doesn’t expect operations to be impacted.
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Wisconsin school shooter was in contact with California man plotting his own attack, court documents say
The shooter who killed a student and teacher at a religious school in Wisconsin brought two guns to the school and was in contact with a man in California whom authorities say was planning to attack a government building, according to authorities and court documents that became public Wednesday.
Police were still investigating why the 15-year-old student at Abundant Life Christian School in Madison shot and killed a fellow student and teacher on Monday before shooting herself, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes told the Associated Press Wednesday. Two other students who were shot remained in critical condition on Wednesday.
A Southern California judge issued a restraining order Tuesday under California’s gun red flag law against a 20-year-old Carlsbad man. The order requires the man to turn his guns and ammunition into police within 48 hours unless an officer asks for them sooner because he poses an immediate danger to himself and others.
Carlsbad is located just north of San Diego.
According to the order, the man told FBI agents that he had been messaging Natalie Rupnow, the Wisconsin shooter, about attacking a government building with a gun and explosives. The order doesn’t say what building he had targeted or when he planned to launch his attack. It also doesn’t detail his interactions with Rupnow except to state that the man was plotting a mass shooting with her.
CBS’ San Diego affiliate KFMB-TV reported that law enforcement searched the man’s home Tuesday night after the order was signed by the judge.
Police, with the assistance of the FBI, were scouring online records and other resources and speaking with the shooter’s parents and classmates in an attempt to determine a motive for the shooting, Barnes told the AP.
Police don’t know if anyone was targeted in the attack or if the attack had been planned in advance, the chief said. Police said the shooting occurred in a classroom where a study hall was taking place involving students from several grades.
“I do not know if if she planned it that day or if she planned it a week prior,” Barnes said. “To me, bringing a gun to school to hurt people is planning. And so we don’t know what the premeditation is.”
On a Madison city website providing details about the shooting, police disclosed Wednesday that two guns were found at the school, but only one was used in the shooting. A law enforcement source previously told CBS News the weapon used appears to have been a 9 mm pistol.
Barnes told the AP that he did not know how the suspected shooter obtained the guns and he declined to say who purchased them, citing the ongoing investigation.
No decisions have been made about whether Rupnow’s parents might be charged in relation to the shooting, but they have been cooperating, Barnes told the AP.
Abundant Life is a nondenominational Christian school that offers prekindergarten classes through high school. About 420 students attend the institution.
The Dan County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the two people killed Wednesday as 42-year-old Erin West and 14-year-old Rubi Vergara.
An online obituary on a local funeral site stated Vergara was a freshman who leaves behind her parents, one brother, and a large extended family. It described her as “an avid reader” who “loved art, singing and playing keyboard in the family worship band.”
West’s exact position with the school was unclear.