U.S. military aircraft have carried out strikes in eastern Syria against facilities associated with Iranian-backed militant groups believed to be responsible for more than a dozen rocket and drone attacks on American troops in Iraq and Syria that injured 21 service members, the military said, writes ABC NEWS.

“Today, at President Biden’s direction, 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”, - said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a statement.

“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.

“The President has no higher priority than the safety of U.S. personnel, and he directed today’s action to make clear that the United States will not tolerate such attacks and will defend itself, its personnel, and its interests”, - he said.

The retaliatory operations were carried out at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, in the wake of Hamas’ terror attack on Israel on Oct. 7, and U.S. concerns about preventing that conflict from enveloping the rest of the region.

“The United States does not seek conflict and has no intention nor desire to engage in further hostilities, but these Iranian-backed attacks against U.S. forces are unacceptable and must stop. Iran wants to hide its hand and deny its role in these attacks against our forces. We will not let them. If attacks by Iran’s proxies against U.S. forces continue, we will not hesitate to take further necessary measures to protect our people”, - Austin continued.

The U.S. airstrikes were carried out by two U.S. Air Force F-16 fighter aircraft and struck two facilities affiliated with the IRGC and affiliated groups that were located near Abu Kamal, a town in far eastern Syria very close to the border with Iraq, a military official said.

“One was a weapon storage area. The other one was an ammunition storage area”, - the senior U.S. military official said. “Both we know to be aligned with Iranian-aligned militias”.

The official added that the U.S. could link the munitions stored at the facilities to the 19 rocket and drone attacks carried out over the past week against U.S. personnel in Iraq and Syria. There were no civilians at the target areas at the time of the airstrikes, said the military official who did not know if there were Iranians at the sites.