U.S braces for Iran’s response to Israel’s Damascus strike

Israel’s airstrike on an Iranian Embassy compound in Syria’s capital has spurred fears of a renewed aim at U.S. interests in the region, despite American officials claiming no advanced knowledge of the attack.

Former U.S. officials and experts say the strike, which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said killed two senior members and five officers Monday in Damascus, could mean renewed attacks on American troops and bases in Iraq and Syria by Tehran-backed proxies.

Such attacks, which spiked after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, died down in early February in the wake of a massive U.S. retaliatory assault against the militia groups.

Washington ordered those strikes after an attack by Iranian aligned militants killed three U.S. service members at a small base in Jordan in January.

But though the U.S. has denied any involvement in the Damascus strike — which happened during the day on a diplomatic building near Iran’s Embassy — being Israel’s biggest ally could put Washington in the crosshairs of any retaliation from Iran.