25 Feb 2021
President Joe Biden ordered his first military airstrikes on Thursday, targeting “multiple facilities” used by by Iranian-backed militia groups in eastern Syria, according to the Pentagon.
The strikes were in response to recent attacks against American and U.S.-led Coalition personnel in Iraq and to “ongoing threats” to those personnel, Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said in a statement Thursday evening.
“At President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted airstrikes against infrastructure utilized by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria,” Kirby said, adding:
These strikes were authorized in response to recent attacks against American and Coalition personnel in Iraq, and to ongoing threats to those personnel. Specifically, the strikes destroyed multiple facilities located at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups, including Kait’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Kait’ib Sayyid al-Shuhada (KSS).