Biden approves airstrike on Iran-backed militias in Syria following Iraq attacks
Officials suggested the late-night precision bombing was designed to minimize casualties while avoiding backlash from the Iraqi government.
The United States carried out an airstrike against buildings used by Iran-backed militias in eastern Syria late on Thursday night in retaliation for recent rocket attacks on US and coalition military sites in Iraq.
The strikes destroyed several facilities at a “border control point” used by Iran-backed militias Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said. An Iraqi member of a Kataib Hezbollah-affiliated militia was killed, the group announced in a statement.
Speaking to reporters accompanying him in California on Thursday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed confidence that the US strikes hit the same Shiite militia that carried out the recent attacks in Iraq. Austin also credited an Iraqi-led investigation into the recent attacks with helping determine the target. “We know what we hit,” he said.
Iraq’s defense ministry sought to distance itself from the US retaliation on Friday, denying that it had shared intelligence related to the airstrike.
