Biden has ordered further retaliation over killings of U.S. soldiers, officials say

WASHINGTON – Top U.S. national security officials said Sunday that President Joe Biden had ordered further retaliation to the killings of three service members by Iran-backed militias but declined to say when or how it would be carried out.

The officials’ comments followed dozens of military strikes Friday by U.S. forces on targets in Iraq and Syria. Officials said they were still assessing the effects of those strikes, but they believed they had degraded the ability of the militias to attack U.S. forces.

“The president was clear when he ordered them and when he conducted them that that was the beginning of our response and there will be more steps to come,” Jake Sullivan, the president’s national security adviser, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Sullivan said he did not want to “telegraph our punches” by revealing details of future action. And, he added, the president was attempting to calibrate his responses to avoid a sharp escalation of the fighting in the Middle East.

John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, rejected criticism from Republican lawmakers who have accused the administration of waiting too long – nearly a week – after the three service members were killed by a drone attack at a base in Jordan, near the border with Syria.

“You want to do this in a deliberate way,” Kirby said on “Fox News Sunday.” “You want to carefully select your targets. You want to make sure that all the parameters are in place to have good effects, including factoring in the weather. I mean, these attacks were using manned aircraft. You want to make sure your pilots can get in and get out safely.”

Kirby also rejected calls from some lawmakers in both parties for the president to request specific authorization from Congress – which has the constitutional power to declare war – before continuing with military actions in the Middle East.

Kirby cited the president’s role as detailed in the Constitution.

“The president is acting consistent with his Article 2 responsibilities as commander in chief,” he said. “These are self-defense actions that we’re taking to prevent and to take away capability from these groups from targeting our troops and our facilities.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.