President Joe Biden ordered airstrikes this weekend on Iran-backed militias near the Iraq-Syria border in response to unmanned aerial vehicle attacks, according to Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby.
“At President Biden’s direction, U.S. military forces earlier this evening conducted defensive precision airstrikes against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the Iraq-Syria border region,” Kirby said in a statement Sunday. “The targets were selected because these facilities are utilized by Iran-backed militias that are engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq.” U.S. military forces conducted the “defensive precision airstrikes” against facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups in the region on Sunday evening, said Kirby, who stressed the U.S. strikes were legal and in self-defense. U.S. Air Force F-15s and F-16s from U.S. bases in the Central Command region carried out Sunday’s airstrikes with precision-guided munitions at about 6 p.m. ET, a defense official told. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Sunday evening that the airstrikes “appear to be a targeted and proportional response to a serious and specific threat.”
