国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀在接受美国广播公司采访时表示，美国仍在评估谁应对此次袭击负责最近的火箭袭击在...的基地伊拉克那里驻扎着美军。
奥斯汀说，如果美国决定作出反应对于攻击，它将是“在我们自己选择的时间和地点。”
他是在接受美国广播公司新闻节目《本周》联合主播玛莎·拉德达茨的广泛采访时发表上述言论的，该节目将于周日播出。
周三，10枚火箭弹被发射到伊拉克西部不断扩张的阿萨德空军基地，那里是仍在伊拉克的2500名美军的驻地。没有服役人员受伤，但一名美国平民承包商在火箭弹袭击中躲避时死于心脏病。
奥斯汀告诉美国广播公司新闻，“我们希望再次确保，我们明白谁应该对此负责。
他补充说:“对那些将要实施这种袭击人的信息是，你知道，期望我们做必要的事情来保卫我们自己。
奥斯汀说:“如果我们，如果这是我们认为在我们自己选择的时间和地点需要做的事情，我们就会罢工。
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火箭袭击之前，美国上周在叙利亚东部进行了一次空袭，目标是两个伊朗支持的什叶派民兵组织使用的一个大院，美国和伊拉克评估说，这两个民兵组织应对埃尔比勒的另一个美国设施遭到致命的火箭袭击负责。那次火箭袭击造成一名平民承包商死亡，数名美国人受伤，其中包括一名美国军人。
对叙利亚的空袭是拜登政府的第一次美国军事行动，美国官员表示，这是为了传递一个信息，即美国将捍卫该地区的美国人。
“你不能逍遥法外。小心，”上周五，当被问及空袭意在传达什么信息时，乔·拜登总统说。
一名美国官员向美国广播公司证实，拜登取消了对叙利亚第二个目标的空袭，因为无法最终确定目标地区没有妇女和儿童。
Defense secretary says US still assessing who carried out Iraq rocket attack
In an interview with ABC News, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. is still assessing who was responsible for therecent rocket attackon a base inIraqthat houses U.S. forces.
Austin said that if the U.S. decides torespondto the attack it will be "at a time and place of our own choosing."
He made his comments in a wide-ranging interview with ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz set to air on Sunday.
On Wednesday, 10 rockets were fired at the sprawling Al Asad airbase in western Iraq that is home to many of the 2,500 American troops still in Iraq. No service members were wounded, but a civilian American contractor died from a heart attack while sheltering during the rocket attack.
"We want to make sure that that, again, we understand who's responsible for this," Austin told ABC News.
"The message to those that that that would carry out such a such an attack is that, you know, expect us to do what's necessary to defend ourselves," he added.
"We'll strike if we, if that's what we think we need to do at a time and place of our own choosing," Austin said.
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The rocket attack followed a U.S. airstrike in eastern Syria last week that targeted a compound used by two Iranian-backed Shia militias that the U.S. and Iraq had assessed were responsible for a deadly rocket attack on another U.S. facility in Erbil. That rocket attack killed a civilian contractor and injured several Americans, including a U.S. military service member.
The airstrike in Syria was the first U.S. military action of the Biden administration and U.S. officials have said it was intended to send a message that the U.S. will defend Americans in the region.
"You can't act with impunity. Be careful," President Joe Biden said last Friday when asked what message the airstrike was meant to convey.
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that Biden called off an airstrike on a second target in Syria after it could not be conclusively determined that women and children were not in the target area.
