Key Points
- The US has begun conducting airstrikes on targets in Iraq and Syria.
- It came in response to a drone attack on US outpost in Jordan that killed three U.S. troops.
- The strikes are believed to be just the first in a multi-tiered response by President Joe Biden’s administration.
The United States carried out retaliatory strikes on Friday in Iraq and Syria against facilities linked to and the militias they back, according to four US officials.
It comes after that killed three US troops and injured some 40 others.
The strikes are believed to be just the first in a multi-tiered response by US President Joe Biden’s administration to the attack last weekend carried out by Iran-backed militants.
While the US strikes did not target any locations inside Iran, they are likely to increase concern about tensions in the Middle East spiralling from Israel’s more than three-month-old war with Hamas militants in Gaza.
Two of the officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a formal statement was expected in the coming hour.
Syrian state media said on Friday that an “American aggression” on sites in Syria’s desert areas and the Syrian and Iraqi border resulted in a number of casualties and injuries.
It came just hours after Biden and Pentagon leaders attended the remains of the three American soldiers killed in the Jordan attack returning to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
The Jordan attack was the first deadly strike against US troops since the erupted in October and marked a major escalation in tensions.
The US has assessed that the drone that killed three of its soldiers and also wounded more than 40 other people was made by Iran, US officials have told Reuters.