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The United States launched airstrikes on targets in Syria used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and other militia groups in retaliation for a series of drone attacks targeting U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Syria.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, there have been at least 19 drone or missile attacks targeting U.S. troops in the Middle East.
"U.S. military forces conducted self-defense strikes on two facilities in eastern Syria used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and affiliated groups. These precision self-defense strikes are a response to a series of ongoing and mostly unsuccessful attacks against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria by Iranian-backed militia groups that began on October 17," Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
The strikes were carried out by a pair of F-16 fighter jets armed with precision-guided munitions. They targeted a weapons and ammunition storage facility near the border of Iraq and Syria.
It is unknown if there were any casualties as a result of the airstrikes.
"We know that there were people on the target at various points during the day," a Pentagon official told reporters, according to CNN. "Again, we know that they were not civilians," the official added.