The US military said on Tuesday it had conducted strikes against an Iranian-backed militia group’s weapons storage facility in Syria.
In a statement, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the strikes were in response to a rocket attack on US personnel at Patrol Base Shaddadi.
There was no damage to US facilities and no injuries to US or partner forces during the militia’s attack, it added.
“These strikes will degrade the Iranian backed groups’ ability to plan and launch future attacks on US and Coalition forces who are in the region to conduct D-ISIS operations,” CENTCOM stated.
Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, said, “We have made it clear that attacks on US personnel, partner forces and facilities will not be tolerated and that we retain the right to defend ourselves. US Central Command, alongside our regional partners, will aggressively pursue any threat to US forces, allies, partners, and security in the region.”
This is the second time in two days that the US Army has struck targets of the pro-Iranian militias in Syria. On Monday, CENTCOM forces conducted strikes against nine targets in two locations associated with Iranian groups in Syria, in response to several attacks on US personnel in Syria.
The Iranian-backed militias in Syria and Iraq have resumed their attacks on US military personnel in recent months, after announcing in February they would stop their attacks against US troops.
In August, eight US service members were injured in a drone attack on a base in Syria.
The Iranian-backed militias have also claimed numerous UAV attacks on Israeli targets in recent months.