WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - The United States carried out an air raid targeting Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria.
President Joe Biden authorized these strikes in response to recent rocket attacks against U.S. bases in Iraq, and to ongoing threats to American and Coalition forces in that country, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby told reporters traveling with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Many facilities located at a border control point used by Iranian-backed militant groups, including Kait'ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kait'ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), were destroyed in the aerial strikes.
'There's not much more that I'll be able to add at this point other than the fact that we're confident in the target we went after, we know what we hit,' the secretary of defense said. 'We're confident that the target was being used by the same Shia militia that conducted the strikes,' he added.
Austin said American forces focused on the target with the help of intelligence gathered by Iraqis in support of the mission. The military response was conducted along with diplomatic measures, including consultation with coalition partners.
Kirby said that the operation sends an unambiguous message: 'President Biden will act to protect American and coalition personnel. At the same time, we have acted in a deliberate manner that aims to de-escalate the overall situation in both Eastern Syria and Iraq'.
The air raid on Iranian-backed militias in Syria was the first U.S. military attack in a foreign country ordered by the Biden administration.
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