The US military said on Sunday that it conducted airstrikes against "facilities used by Iran-backed militia groups" near the border between Iraq and Syria.
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Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the militias were using the facilities to launch drone attacks against US troops and facilities in Iraq.
Kirby said the US military targeted three operational and weapons storage facilities Sunday – two in Syria and one in Iraq.
He described the airstrikes as "defensive," saying they were launched in response to the attacks by Iran-backed groups.
"The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation – but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message," Kirby said.
Two US officials, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said Iran-backed militias carried out at least five drone attacks against facilities used by US and coalition personnel in Iraq since April.
The Pentagon said the facilities targeted were used by Iran-backed militia including Kataib Hezbollah and Kataib Sayyid al-Shuhada.
One of the facilities targeted was used to launch and recover the drones, a defense official said.
F-15 and F-16 aircraft were used in the attack, officials said, adding the pilots made it back from the mission safely.
"We assess each strike hit the intended targets," one of the officials told Reuters.
In a statement, Iraqi militia groups aligned with Iran said four members of the Kataib Sayyed al-Shuhada faction were killed in the attack. They vowed to retaliate.
Iran called on the United States to avoid "creating crisis" in the region.
"Certainly what the United States is doing is disrupting security in the region, and one of the victims of this disruption will be the United States," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday.
Local news outlets in Syria reported Syrian army trucks and numerous ambulances arriving at the scene of the strike, indicating the possibility of casualties.
Sunday's strikes mark the second time the administration of US President Joe Biden has taken military action in the region. In February, the US launched airstrikes against facilities in Syria, near the Iraqi border, that it said were used by Iranian-backed militia groups.
The Pentagon said those strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq in February that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a US service member and other coalition troops.
At that time, Biden said Iran should view his decision to authorize US airstrikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support of militia groups that threaten US interests or personnel.
"You can't act with impunity. Be careful," Biden said when a reporter asked what message he had intended to send.
On Sunday, Kirby said Biden "has been clear that he will act to protect US personnel. Given the ongoing series of attacks by Iran-backed groups targeting US interests in Iraq, the President directed further military action to disrupt and deter such attacks."
The Pentagon spokesman added: "As a matter of international law, the United States acted pursuant to its right of self-defense. The strikes were both necessary to address the threat and appropriately limited in scope."
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Sunday that the US airstrikes "appear to be a targeted and proportional response to a serious and specific threat. Protecting the military heroes who defend our freedoms is a sacred priority."
It should be noted that the strikes come at a particularly sensitive time, as the Biden administration is looking to revive the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
Biden's critics say Iran cannot be trusted and point to the drone attacks as further evidence that Iran and its proxies will never accept a US military presence in Iraq or Syria.
Biden and the White House declined to comment on the strikes on Sunday. But Biden will meet Israel's outgoing president, Reuven Rivlin, at the White House on Monday for a broad discussion that will include Iran and US efforts to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal. Those efforts have raised serious concerns in Israel.
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