Good afternoon. The US has carried out airstrikes against what it said were two Iranian facilities in eastern Syria, following a spike in attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria since 17 October.
American and Iranian officials said they did not seek to expand the Israel-Hamas war into a regional conflict, but each warned the other side of consequences if matters escalated. US defence secretary Lloyd Austin warned of “further necessary measures” if attacks by Iran’s proxies don’t stop, while Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said the US “will not be spared from this fire” if what he described as the “genocide in Gaza” did not stop.
