In this file US Navy handout image taken on October 4, 2014 two F-18E Super Hornets are pictured over Iraq after conducting an airstrike. (Photo: AFP)
Washington, February 26 (RHC)-- The United States military says it carried out attacks on facilities in eastern Syria "used by Iran-backed militia" -- in retaliation for recent rocket attacks on U.S. troops.
“At President Biden’s direction, US military forces earlier this evening conducted airstrikes against infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria,” spokesman John Kirby in a statement.
“These strikes were authorised in response to recent attacks against American and Coalition personnel in Iraq, and to ongoing threats to those personnel,” he said.
According to the Pentagon, U.S. fighter jets dropped seven 500-lb Joint Direct Attack Munition-guided precision bombs, hitting seven targets. At least 17 people were reported killed in the attacks.
Kirby said the strikes destroyed multiple facilities at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups, including Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kata’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS).
