The US Department of Defense (the Pentagon) announced that its fighters launched raids Thursday evening on military sites used by Iranian-backed armed groups in eastern Syria, in response to the recent missile attacks that targeted US forces stationed in Iraq.
Pentagon spokesman James Kirby said that "based on directions from President (Joe) Biden, US forces launched raids this evening on infrastructure used by armed groups backed by Iran in eastern Syria."
He added that these raids were "in response to recent attacks against soldiers from the United States and the coalition in Iraq, and to the constant threats targeting these soldiers."
The spokesman stated that the strikes were carried out "in a calculated manner," in order "not to escalate the situation in eastern Syria and Iraq."
He said that the strikes destroyed several facilities at a border control point used by those groups, including the Hezbollah Brigades and the Sayyid al-Shuhada Brigades, two of the Iraqi Shiite factions affiliated with the Popular Mobilization Forces.
The Reuters news agency - which reported the news of the strikes before the Pentagon confirmed it - said that Biden's decision to limit strikes to targets in Syria without Iraq - even for the time being at least - gives the Iraqi government space to conduct its investigations into the attack in which Americans were wounded.
A missile attack targeted Arbil airport in northern Iraq on February 15, killing and wounding 9 people, including 4 American contractors.
The International Coalition to Fight ISIS said that 14 missiles struck Erbil, 3 of which hit the coalition base, noting that the dead was a non-American contractor.