U.S. warplanes attacked “operational and weapons storage facilities” of Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region Sunday.
The air strikes were carried out in retaliation against drone attacks targeting U.S. forces, the Pentagon said in a statement.
It did not provide any information on casualties, but the UK-based monitoring group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said five militia fighters in Syria were killed and many others wounded in the attack.
About 2,500 US troops are based in Iraq as part of an international coalition fighting the Islamic State (IS).
They were frequently targeted through drone attacks recently.
“At President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region. The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq,” says a statement issued by Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby.
The U.S. strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, both of which lie close to the border between those terrorist-infected Middle East countries. Several Iran-backed militia groups, including Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), used these facilities.
The Pentagon stated that the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting U.S. interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks.
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