US airstrikes against infrastructure used by Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria destroyed multiple buildings, Defense Department press secretary John Kirby said in a statement.
“At President [Joe] Biden’s direction, US military forces earlier this evening conducted airstrikes against infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria,” Kirby said.
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Specifically, the attacks destroyed multiple facilities located at a border checkpoint used by various Iranian-backed militant groups, including Kait’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kait’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS), according to the statement.
Previously, CBS News and other outlets reported on the airstrike, with some raising questions about why the retaliation took place in Syria and not Iraq.
The US consulted with its coalition partners before launching the attack, Kirby said.
He also said the airstrikes send a message that Biden will take steps to protect the US personnel and the coalition, he added.
Kirby added that the airstrike was carried out in a deliberate manner that aims to reduce the overall situation in eastern Syria and Iraq.
The US airstrike may have caused a small number of fatalities, according to a source quoted by The Washington Post.
“A US official, who requested anonymity to provide more details, said that a single attack targeted a group of buildings and is believed to have killed a handful of people,” the newspaper reported.
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On February 15, a dozen rockets hit the Erbil air base in Iraqi Kurdistan, killing a civilian contractor and wounding nine other people; a Shiite militant group reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack.