US attacks Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria

US military carries out air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria in response to drone attacks against US targets.

The US military on Sunday carried out air strikes against Iran-backed militia in Iraq and Syria, the Pentagon said in a statement quoted by Reuters.

The air strikes come in response to drone attacks by the militia against US personnel and facilities in Iraq.

The strikes targeted operational and weapons storage facilities at two locations in Syria and one location in Iraq, the Pentagon said.

“As demonstrated by this evening’s strikes, President Biden has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel,” it added.

Rocket attacks have regularly targeted Iraqi bases as well as the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where the US embassy is located, since the US elimination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani last January.

Sunday’s air strikes are not the first time that the Biden administration has retaliated for attacks on US targets in Iraq.

In February, the US bombed a border depot in Syria which the Pentagon said was used by Iran-backed Iraqi armed militia that have been tied to the rocket attacks. The strikes followed a rocket attack targeting an airbase in Iraq’s Kurdistan region, which killed a foreign civilian contractor and wounded five others, among them a US soldier.

US President Joe Biden described the February attack as a “warning” to Iran.