The United States has carried out a wave of air strikes on Iranian-allied targets in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for an attack that killed American soldiers in Jordan.

On Saturday, Iraq said 16 people, including civilians, had been killed on its soil, and a monitoring group said 18 people had been killed in Syria.

Washington has warned of further strikes supposedly to deter the Iranian-backed “Axis of Resistance.” Israel’s war against Gaza. Announcing the overnight attacks, US President Joe Biden said: “Our response began today. It will continue at times and places of our choosing.”

This is how the world reacted to the US action:

Iran

“The attacks represent a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq and Syria, international law and a clear violation of the United Nations Charter,” State Department spokesman Nasser Kanaani said.

“In addition to the U.S.’s full support for four months of the Zionist regime’s relentless and barbaric attacks on the residents of Gaza and the West Bank, as well as military attacks on Yemen and violations of the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, the attacks on Syria and the Iraq last night was another adventurous action and another strategic mistake by the US government that will only lead to aggravation of tensions and instability in the region.”

“The attacks only support the goals of the Zionist regime. Such attacks increasingly affect the U.S. government in the region and overshadow the crimes of the Zionist regime in Gaza.”

Iraq

“This aggressive attack will bring security in Iraq and the region to the brink,” the Iraqi government said in a statement, dismissing Washington’s claims that it was coordinating the airstrikes with Baghdad as “false” and “misleading.” international public “back opinion”.

The presence of the US-led military coalition in the region “has become a reason for threatening security and stability in Iraq and a justification for Iraq’s participation in regional and international conflicts,” the office said in a statement by Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.

“Iraq reiterates its refusal to use the country as a venue for settling scores,” said government spokesman Basim Alwadi.

Yahya Rasool, Iraq’s military spokesman, said the attacks “represent a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, undermine the Iraqi government’s efforts and pose a threat that could have dire consequences for Iraq and the region.”

“The results will have serious implications for security and stability in Iraq and the surrounding region,” Rasool added.

Syria

The State Department said the attacks helped “fuel the conflict in the Middle East in extremely dangerous ways” and added to Washington’s “violations against Syria’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and the security of its people, proving once again that it is.” the main source of global instability.”

The military said: “The target area of ​​the American strikes in eastern Syria is the same area where the Syrian Arab Army is fighting the remnants of Daesh.” [ISIL] It is a terrorist organization and this confirms that the United States and its armed forces are associated and allied with this organization and are working by all dirty means to revive it as a field weapon in both Syria and Iraq. “

“The aggression of the American occupation forces today at dawn has no justification other than an attempt to weaken the counterterrorism capability of the Syrian Arab Army and its allies, but that of the army.”

Islamic resistance in Iraq

The coalition of armed groups opposed to the US and Israel in Iraq, which “ceased” its attacks earlier this week, said it fired drones at a US base in Erbil.

Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed reported from Baghdad that Iraqi groups also carried out rocket attacks on the al-Tanf military base in Syria, where US personnel are stationed, and the Ain al-Assad base in western Iraq.

Hamas

“We strongly condemn the American aggression against Iraq and Syria and consider it a dangerous escalation, a violation of the sovereignty of the two Arab countries and a threat to their security and the stability of the region in the service of the.” “We support the expansion agenda of the occupation and cover up their terrible crimes against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” Hamas said in a statement.

“The administration of US President Biden bears responsibility for the consequences of this brutal aggression against both Iraq and Syria, which further fuels the fire, and we reiterate that the region will not experience stability and peace except through “Ending Zionist aggression, the crimes of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people in the Gaza Strip and ending the Zionist-Nazi occupation.”

European Union

“Everyone should try to avoid the situation becoming explosive,” said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.

While Borrell did not directly address the U.S. attacks, he reiterated his warning that the Middle East is “a cauldron that can explode.”

He pointed to the war in Gaza, violence along the Israel-Lebanese border, bombings in Iraq and Syria and attacks on ships in the Red Sea. “That’s why we call on everyone to prevent escalation.”

Great Britain

“The UK and the US are steadfast allies. We would not comment on their operations, but we support their right to respond to attacks,” a British government spokesman said in a statement.

“We have long condemned Iran’s destabilizing activities across the region, including its political, financial and military support to a range of militant groups.”

Poland

“Iran’s proxies have been playing with fire for months and years and now it is burning them,” Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters as he arrived in Brussels for a meeting with his EU counterparts.

Speaker of the US House of Representatives

Mike Johnson, the Republican speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, accused Biden of “appeasing” Tehran after the attacks and said that “America must show strength to promote peace.”

Council on American-Islamic Relations

“Instead of waging war across the Middle East, the Biden administration should call for an end to the far-right Israeli government’s ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza.” said Nihad Awad, national executive director of CAIR.

The U.S. has ignored Israel’s “escalating human rights abuses,” left its troops in Syria, Iraq and other places “where they are not welcome,” and refused to rejoin the Iran nuclear deal, Nihad noted.

“These recent attacks in Iraq and Syria are just further evidence of the complete failure of the President’s Middle East policy. “President Biden should change course to protect both American soldiers and the people of the region from more violence…Justice and freedom for the Palestinian people – not more bombs – can create a more peaceful future for the region.”

Analysts

Trita Parsi, executive vice president of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, questioned the effectiveness of the U.S. bombings.

“The aim is to reduce their offensive capability over a longer period of time, but at the risk of triggering a regional war. This is ultimately a suboptimal strategy. It would be more effective to reduce their interest in attacking the US…The most effective way to shift the interest of these militias is a ceasefire in Gaza,” Parsi said.

“There is no escaping this reality: nothing in the region is likely to de-escalate if there is no de-escalation in Gaza. “Unfortunately, Biden’s approach to date has been to refrain from exerting material pressure on Israel to bring about a ceasefire.”

Joshua Landis, associate professor and director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, told Al Jazeera that politicians in Washington are pushing Biden for a stronger response as the US presidential election approaches.

“He has to respond but at the same time he has made it very clear that he does not want any escalation and that means two things; He can hit Syrians, it’s easy and no one cares about the Syrian government, but the Americans care about the Iraqi government.”

“America does not want to be driven out of Iraq, especially not before the November elections. So you want to be strong, but you don’t want to kill too many Iraqis.”

HA Hellyer, military analyst at the UK-based think tank Royal United Services Institute, told Al Jazeera, adding that if the US wants to de-escalate and not go to war with Iran, Gaza is key.

Washington has failed to “apply any real pressure to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza, which I think would really reduce tensions in the region and remove the fuel for this kind of escalation that is likely to continue in the coming days.” and weeks and beyond,” he said.