The US strikes appeared limited in scope and narrowly tailored, targeting five weapons storage facilities used by Kataib Hezbollah militants – including facilities used to store weaponry for past attacks on US-led coalition troops, the Pentagon said.

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Iraq's military said in a statement that the US airstrikes hit four locations in Iraq.

The US military did not estimate how many people in Iraq may have been killed in the strikes, which officials said were carried out by piloted aircraft.

But there no was no indication of the kind of high-profile killings that US President Donald Trump authorized in January, when the United States targeted a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper, in a Pentagon statement detailing the strikes, cautioned that the United States was prepared to respond again, if needed.

"We will take any action necessary to protect our forces in Iraq and the region," Esper said.

Trump was quick to authorize the US military to respond following Wednesday's attack in Iraq, in which militants fired dozens of 107 mm Katyusha rockets from a truck, striking Iraq's Taji military camp north of Baghdad.

Out of the roughly 30 rockets fired, some 18 hit the base. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.

It was the third time in recent months the US military lashed out against Kataib Hezbollah. It killed more than two dozen militants in December in response to an attack on an Iraqi base that killed a US contractor.

It was unclear whether the latest strikes would deter the militants from further action. The rocket attack on Taji took place on what would have been Soleimani's 63rd birthday, suggesting the militants were still looking for revenge.

Dennis Ross, a former US ambassador now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, cast doubt on the Pentagon's ability to deter Kataib Hezbollah.

"Regrettably, these attacks on our forces will continue as Iran has no problem fighting to the last of the Shiite militias and believe they can force us out of Iraq," he said on Twitter.

Iran retaliated for the US drone strike that killed Soleimani by launching missiles from its territory at an Iraq base hosting US troops – leaving more than 100 US forces with brain injuries.

In the latest attack, 14 US-led coalition personnel were wounded, including American, British, Polish and other nationals. Private-industry contractors were among the wounded.

US Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Pentagon reporters that five of the wounded were categorized as "urgent," suggesting serious injuries that could require rapid medical evacuation.

The UK named its fallen service member as Lance Corporal Brodie Gillon. The United States has not yet identified the US service members killed.

In a sign of concern that tensions between the United States and Iran could be headed toward open conflict, the Democratic-led US House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday to limit Trump's ability to wage war against Iran.

The Republican president has been engaged in a maximum-pressure campaign of renewed sanctions and near-constant rhetoric against Iran, after pulling the United States out of the international nuclear deal reached during the administration of his Democratic predecessor, Barack Obama.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have mostly played out on Iraqi soil in recent months.

Iran-backed paramilitary groups have regularly been rocketing and shelling bases in Iraq that host US forces and the area around the US Embassy in Baghdad.

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Putin's fear that the region is perilously close to a conflagration is evidenced, among other things, by Russia's reserved response to the assassination. Iran and Russia are, supposedly, allies. Only recently they conducted a joint military exercise in the north Indian Ocean. One might have expected Putin to castigate US President Donald Trump for his "irresponsible act," express some measure of empathy for Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, or publicly come out in support of Iran's right to exact harsh and painful revenge. None of this happened. The Russians anemically condemned the assassination and sufficed with offering condolences to Iranian diplomats in Russia. And none of this is a coincidence.

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We need to remember that Putin isn't just the world champ of exploiting opportunities for political gain; he is also a master of spotting danger in time. A wild Iranian retaliation against Americans stationed in the Middle East would assuredly compel a disproportionate response from the preeminent global superpower. After that, the distance between such a response and all-out war – which could also harm Russian interests – would be exceedingly short.

Naturally, Putin's two most pressing concerns pertain to Syria, which is Russia's primary outpost in the region. First: American forces are still stationed in the country's east. If the Iranians try harming them, the US will act in Syria; and not just in the east but wherever they find pro-Iranian militias. This would greatly embarrass the Russian forces currently in Syria. Putin's other concern is that those Iran-backed militias will receive orders from Tehran to act against Israel, from Syrian territory, as part of Iran's revenge. Putin understands that Israel would retaliate to any such aggression, and would perhaps even cross certain red lines established by Jerusalem and Moscow – for example targeting symbols of the Assad regime.

Russian sources on Tuesday indicated that Putin's surprise visit to Damascus was an attempt to ensure that Assad would try to restrain and assuage the pro-Iranian militias on his soil. Putin wants quiet in Syria and will also discuss the issue with his Israeli hosts during his upcoming, pre-planned visit, which has become even more pressing and pertinent in the wake of Soleimani's demise.

From Damascus, Putin continued on to Ankara to alleviate tensions in yet another region. In Libya, a war is on the verge of erupting between Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar's secular army, supported by Russian mercenaries, and the Islamist government in Tripoli, supported by Turkish mercenaries. Putin will try persuading Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the battle is already lost because Haftar's army has already seized the vast majority of Libyan territory and that Moscow and Ankara should focus on cooperating to stave off a larger conflagration, if possible, along the Turkish frontier with Syria.

If Putin succeeds on his missions to reduce the flames, Libya could become Russia's second naval foothold in the Mediterranean basin, after Syria.

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Trump has been softening his pullout plans for Syria after a backlash from Congress, including among key Republicans, who say he enabled a long-threatened Turkish incursion against Kurdish forces in Syria who had been America's top allies in the battle against Islamic State.

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"We are now taking some actions ... to strengthen our position at Deir el-Zour, to ensure that we can deny ISIS access to the oil fields," Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters during a press conference.

"We are reinforcing that position, it will include some mechanized forces," Esper said. Mechanized forces usually include tanks and other military assets.

He did not say how many forces were currently in the region or how many additional forces would be sent.

Russia's Defense Ministry on Saturday harshly criticized the US decision to send armored vehicles and combat troops into the area, calling it "banditry."

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said "what Washington is doing now, the seizure and control of oil fields in eastern Syria under its armed control, is, quite simply, international state banditry."

"All hydrocarbon deposits and other minerals located on the territory of Syria do not belong to the ISIS terrorists, and even less to the 'American defenders from ISIS terrorists,' but exclusively to the Syrian Arab Republic," he added.

"The real cause of this illegal action by the United States in Syria lies far from the ideals that Washington has proclaimed and from the slogans of fighting terrorism," Konashenkov said.

Any significant US military presence on the ground would need to be properly defended from potential attack, particularly in oil-rich areas of Syria that could become targets of not just Islamic State fighters but potentially Russian-backed or Iran-backed forces operating in the country.

The vacuum left by Trump's partial withdrawal has created an opening that Russia exploited by moving forces into the area. US officials worry that Iran-backed forces in Syria could also capitalize on the chaos.

Around 300 more Russian military police have arrived in Syria, the Russian defense ministry said on Friday, under an accord between Ankara and Moscow which halted Turkey's military incursion into northeast Syria.

Amid fears that Islamic State could stage a comeback, Trump said on Wednesday that a small number of US troops would remain in the area of Syria "where they have the oil," a reference to oilfields in the Kurdish-controlled region.

On Thursday, Trump said on Twitter that the "Oil is secured" and that "our soldiers have left and are leaving Syria for other places."

Esper said his Turkish counterpart had told him that Ankara had recaptured some of 100 Islamic State fighters who are believed to have escaped from prison in Syria as a result of the Turkish incursion.

Esper met Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Friday in Brussels during a NATO meeting. NATO allies discussed Syria on Thursday, including a German proposal for a multilateral force to patrol a safe zone in northeastern Syria.

Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke by telephone Saturday about Syria.

"From the Russian side, the necessity was emphasized of refraining from steps undermining the sovereignty and territorial integrity of that county," the Russian ministry said in a statement.

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Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) announced legislation that would impose "crippling" sanctions on the government in Ankara shortly before US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said Turkey had agreed to a pause to let Kurdish forces withdraw from a "safe zone."

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The bill would target Turkish officials, end US military cooperation with the NATO ally and mandate sanctions over Turkey's purchase of a Russian S-400 missile defense system.

Leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations and House of Representatives Foreign Affairs committees also unveiled sanctions measures with bipartisan support on Thursday, with many of the same provisions.

"Turkey has legitimate national security concerns within Syria but they cannot be met by invasion and force of arms," Graham said in a statement.

Graham predicted his proposal would pass the Senate with enough support to overcome a possible veto by President Donald Trump.

Representative Eliot Engel, the Democratic chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was far too soon to consider abandoning the sanctions push.

"I'm glad there's a ceasefire. It's a good sign, but let's see if it lasts and let's see what it really means," Engel told reporters.

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Pompeo and Netanyahu met in Jerusalem hours after Turkey agreed with the United States to pause its offensive on Kurdish forces in Syria.

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Turkey launched its assault against the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria last week after President Donald Trump pulled a US contingent out of the way, creating a new front in Syria's eight-year war and prompting 200,000 civilians to take flight.

Israel sees Syria's Kurds, once US allies, as a counterweight to Islamist insurgents in northern Syria. It also worries that its arch-foe Iran or local allies could fill the vacuum left by a disengaged United States.

The Kurds responded to the US withdrawal by inviting Syrian government forces, backed by Moscow and Tehran, into towns and cities in areas they control.

Pompeo said he and Netanyahu discussed "all the efforts we've made to push back against the threat not only to Israel but to the region and the world from the Islamic Republic of Iran."

"We shared our ideas about how we can ensure Middle East stability together, and how we would further our efforts to jointly combat all the challenges that the world confronts here in the Middle East," Pompeo told reporters with Netanyahu by his side.

Asked for his reaction to the pause in Turkey's offensive, Netanyahu said: "We hope things will turn out for the best."

Later on Friday, Pompeo will fly to Brussels for a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

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The vote was 354 to 60 for the resolution, as dozens of Trump's fellow Republicans joined the majority Democrats in favor.

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Also Wednesday, Trump said the United States was "going to try to work it out" with Turkey regarding its assault into northeastern Syria, but US sanctions would be "devastating" if discussions with Ankara did not go well.

"I think they'll have a successful meeting," Trump said at a news conference alongside Italian President Sergio Mattarella.

"If they don't, the sanctions, tariffs other things that we're doing – will do and are doing – to Turkey will be devastating to Turkey's economy."

Trump has been on the defensive since his abrupt decision announced last week to withdraw forces from northeastern Syria where they had been supporting Kurdish forces fighting Islamic State.

US lawmakers, including Trump's fellow Republicans, have been fiercely critical of what they see as the president's hasty handling of the situation following Trump's phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday.

Trump on Wednesday said he did not give Erdoğan a "green light" to push into northeastern Syria. The Turkish leader had long been planning such a move, Trump said, adding that he did not want US forces in harm's way.

European allies have also been critical of the move and called on Turkey to halt its military operations.

Mattarella, standing alongside Trump in the White House, said he had discussed the situation with the US president and that Italy condemns the Turkish offensive.

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The United States on Monday also called on Turkey to stop the invasion and declare a ceasefire, and Trump plans to send Vice President Mike Pence and National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien to Ankara as soon as possible in an attempt to begin negotiations. Pence said Trump spoke directly to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who promised not attack the border town of Kobani, which in 2015 witnessed the Islamic State group's first defeat in a battle by US-backed Kurdish fighters.

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"President Trump communicated to him very clearly that the United States of America wants Turkey to stop the invasion, implement an immediate ceasefire, and to begin to negotiate with Kurdish forces in Syria to bring an end to the violence," Pence said.

"The United States of America simply is not going to tolerate Turkey's invasion in Syria any further. We are calling on Turkey to stand down, end the violence, and come to the negotiating table," the vice president said.

The US withdrawal was criticized at home and abroad as opening the door to a resurgence of the Islamic State group, whose violent takeover of Syrian and Iraqi lands five years ago was the reason American forces came in the first place.

Trump said the approximately 1,000 US troops who had been partnering with local Kurdish fighters to battle IS in northern Syria are leaving the country. They will remain in the Middle East, he said, to "monitor the situation" and to prevent a revival of IS – a goal that even Trump's allies say has become much harder as a result of the US pullout.

The Turks began attacks against the Syrian Kurdish fighters, whom the Turks see as terrorists, last week. On Monday, Syrian government troops moved north toward the border region, setting up a potential clash with Turkish-led forces.

Trump said Turkey's invasion is "precipitating a humanitarian crisis and setting conditions for possible war crimes," a reference to reports of Turkish-backed fighters executing Kurdish fighters on the battlefield.

The Kurdish forces previously allied with the US said they had reached a deal with Syrian President Bashar Assad's government to help them fend off Turkey's invasion, a move that brings Russian forces deeper into the conflict.

The Syrian army deployment is a victory for President Bashar Assad and his most powerful ally, Russia, giving them a foothold in the biggest remaining swath of the country that had been beyond their grasp.

They will now face Turkish armed forces along a new front line hundreds of miles long.

Syrian state media reported the army entered Manbij, a town that had been controlled by a militia allied to the Kurds. Earlier, it pushed into Tel Tamer, a town on the strategically important M4 highway that runs east-west around 30 km (20 miles) south of the frontier with Turkey.

State television later showed residents welcoming Syrian forces into the town of Ain Issa, which lies on another part of the highway, hundreds of miles away.

Ain Issa commands the northern approaches to Raqqa, former capital of the Islamic State caliphate, which Kurdish fighters recaptured from the militants two years ago in one of the biggest victories of a US-led campaign.

Much of the M4 skirts the southern fringe of territory where Turkey aims to set up a "safe zone" inside Syria. Turkey said it had seized part of the highway. An official of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces said clashes were ongoing.

US strategy unraveling

The swift Syrian government deployments underscored how suddenly the strategy the United States had pursued in Syria for the past five years had unraveled. Washington said on Sunday it was pulling out its entire force of 1,000 troops, which had provided air support, ground assistance and training for Syrian Kurds against Islamic State since 2014.

In his sanctions announcement, Trump said he was halting negotiations on a $100 billion trade deal with Turkey and raising steel tariffs back up to 50%. Trump also imposed sanctions on three senior Turkish officials and Turkey's Defense and Energy Ministries.

"I am fully prepared to swiftly destroy Turkey's economy if Turkish leaders continue down this dangerous and destructive path," Trump said.

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the sanctions will hurt an already weak Turkish economy. Pence said Washington will continue to ramp up the sanctions "unless Turkey is willing to embrace a ceasefire, come to the negotiating table, and end the violence."

The move was quickly criticized as too little, too late by the top Democrat in Congress.

"His announcement of a package of sanctions against Turkey falls very short of reversing that humanitarian disaster," said US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), normally a staunch Trump supporter, said he was "gravely concerned" by events in Syria and Trump's response so far.

Withdrawing US forces from Syria "would re-create the very conditions that we have worked hard to destroy and invite the resurgence of ISIS," he said in a statement. "And such a withdrawal would also create a broader power vacuum in Syria that will be exploited by Iran and Russia, a catastrophic outcome for the United States' strategic interests."

Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Trump is weakening America.

"To be clear, this administration's chaotic and haphazard approach to policy by tweet is endangering the lives of US troops and civilians," Menendez said in a statement.

However, Trump got quick support from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who earlier had lambasted his withdrawal decision as "shortsighted," ''irresponsible," and "unnerving to its core." Graham said he was asked to join the president and his team for phone calls with the key leaders in the conflict.

"President Trump made it clear to President Erdoğan this incursion is widely unpopular in the United States, greatly destabilizing to the region, is putting in jeopardy our successes against ISIS, and will eventually benefit Iran," Graham said.

In a series of tweets Monday, Trump defended his gamble that pulling US forces out of Syria would not weaken US security and credibility. He took sarcastic swipes at critics who say his Syria withdrawal amounts to a betrayal of the Kurds and plays into the hands of Russia.

"Anyone who wants to assist Syria in protecting the Kurds is good with me, whether it is Russia, China, or Napoleon Bonaparte," he wrote. "I hope they all do great, we are 7,000 miles away!"

Trump has dug in on his decision to pull out the troops, believing it fulfills a key campaign promise and will be a winning issue in the 2020 election, according to White House officials. He has said he aims to extract the US from "endless" wars in the Middle East.

This has effectively ended a five-year effort to partner with Syrian Kurdish and Arab fighters to ensure a lasting defeat of the Islamic State group. Hundreds of IS supporters escaped a holding camp amid clashes between invading Turkish-led forces and Kurdish fighters, and analysts said an IS resurgence seemed more likely, just months after Trump declared the extremists defeated.

Trump spoke about the IS detainees in a phone call Monday with Kurdish General Mazloum Kobani. Pence said Mazloum assured the president that Kurdish forces would continue to support the prisons holding IS fighters.

New front line

In a speech during a visit to Azerbaijan, Monday, Erdoğan said: "We are determined to continue the operation until the end, without paying attention to threats."

"Our battle will continue until ultimate victory is achieved," he added.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said 560 militants had been "neutralized" since the operation began. Earlier, Erdogan said 500 militants had been killed, 26 surrendered and 24 were wounded so far.

The US exit leaves Turkey and Russia, as well as Iran, Assad's main Middle East ally, as Syria's undisputed foreign power brokers. Ankara and Moscow both predicted they would avoid conflict in Syria, even as the front line between them will now spread across the breadth of the country.

"There are many rumors at the moment. However, especially through the embassy and with the positive approach of Russia in Kobani, it appears there won't be any issues," Erdoğan said when asked about the prospect of confrontation with Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the suggestion that Russia could clash with Turkish forces. "We wouldn't even like to think of that scenario," he said.

Kobani, on the Turkish border, is one of the first Kurdish-held cities where reports emerged of possible Syrian government deployment.

American troops consolidated their positions in northern Syria on Monday and prepared to evacuate equipment in advance of a full withdrawal, a US defense official said.

The official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said US officials were weighing options for a potential future counter-IS campaign, including the possibility of waging it with a combination of air power and special operations forces based outside Syria, perhaps in Iraq.

The hurried preparations for a US exit were triggered by Trump's decision Saturday to expand a limited troop pullout into a complete withdrawal.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday he would travel to NATO headquarters in Brussels next week to urge European allies to impose collective and individual "diplomatic and economic measures" against Turkey – a fellow North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally – for what Esper called Ankara's "egregious" actions.

Esper said Turkey's incursion had created an unacceptable risk to US forces in northern Syria, and "we also are at risk of being engulfed in a broader conflict."

The only exception to the US withdrawal from Syria is a group of perhaps 200 troops who will remain at a base called al-Tanf in southern Syria near the Jordanian border, along the strategically important Baghdad-to-Damascus highway. Those troops work with Syrian opposition forces unrelated to the Kurdish-led fighters in northern Syria.

Thousands of fighters from a Kurdish-led force have died since 2014 battling Islamic State in partnership with the United States, a strategy the Trump administration had continued after inheriting it from his predecessor, Barack Obama.

"After the Americans abandoned the region and gave the green light for the Turkish attack, we were forced to explore another option, which is talks with Damascus and Moscow to find a way out and thwart these Turkish attacks," senior Kurdish official Badran Jia Kurd said. Jia Kurd described the new arrangement with Assad's forces as a "preliminary military agreement," and said political aspects would be discussed later.

It remains to be seen how the Kurds will be treated now. Kurdish fighters began carving out autonomous rule in Syria's northeast early in its eight-year-old war, benefiting from diversions of Assad's military to fight elsewhere. Assad aims to restore his government's authority across all of the country.

Senior Kurdish politician Aldar Xelil called the pact with Damascus "an emergency measure." "The priority now is protecting the border's security from the Turkish danger."

Esper said the US withdrawal would be done carefully to protect the troops and to ensure no US equipment was left behind. He declined to say how long that might take.

EU countries have threatened to impose sanctions on Turkey over the assault. But at a meeting on Monday, they agreed not to impose an embargo. Member countries would instead consider their own restrictions on sales of weapons, a measure likely to be brushed off as trivial, as arms account for just 45 million euros ($51 million)out of more than 150 billion euros ($165 billion) in Turkey-EU trade.

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Negotiations over how to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan have been held in Doha since late last year. The ninth round of talks began last week.

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"We hope to have good news soon for our Muslim, independence-seeking nation," said Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the Taliban's political office in Doha.

US officials engaged in talks with the Taliban in Doha were not immediately available for comment.

Two sources with knowledge of the negotiations said that the US special representative for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been leading the talks, is scheduled to be in Kabul to brief President Ashraf Ghani about the agreement.

A senior security official in Kabul said the Taliban and US officials had agreed on a timeline of about 14 to 24 months for the withdrawal of the US forces.

Details would be shared with the Afghan government before they were made public, the official said.

Ghani, who is seeking a second term in September, has repeatedly offered to hold direct talks with the Taliban, but the group demanded a complete withdrawal of foreign forces as a precondition to start negotiations.

Sediq Sediqqi, a spokesman for Ghani, said the government did not want US forces to stay in Afghanistan over the long term, but added that their "conditions-based" presence was needed at this stage.

"We want to end the bloodshed. We cannot accept the orders of the Taliban. They must accept our demands and we demand peace," said Sediqqi.

Some 14,000 US troops remain in Afghanistan, training and advising Afghan forces and conducting counter-insurgency operations. NATO also has a mission in the country totaling 17,000 to provide support to the Afghan forces.

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Civilian casualties in Afghanistan have been increasing, despite attempts by the United States and the Taliban to negotiate an agreement to end the 18-year war.

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The government's main security agency, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), said that the operation in Paktia province had targeted a Taliban hideout and among the 11 dead terrorists were two commanders.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said it was gravely concerned about the killings during a search operation and that a human rights team was currently investigating.

"Accountability essential. Harm to civilians must stop," the agency said in a post on Twitter.

A politician in the area said that government forces attacked a student gathering over the Eid al-Adha holiday.

"A university student had invited his classmates for dinner," Allah Mir Khan Bahramzoi, a provincial council member in Paktia, told Reuters.

"Late in the evening, security forces surrounded the house, brought out the victims from the guesthouse and shot them one by one," he said by telephone from the province.

The NDS said weapons and ammunition were seized in the raid.

"This operation was conducted based on operative information on a Taliban hideout and it left no civilian casualties," the agency said in a statement.

The United Nations says nearly 4,000 civilians were killed or wounded in the first half of the year. The toll included a big increase in the number of casualties inflicted by government and US-led foreign forces.

Ground raids and clashes caused the most civilian casualties, followed by bomb attacks and airstrikes, UNAMA said in a report last month.

There has been no let-up in violence, even though the Taliban and the United States have both reported significant progress in talks on a pact for US troops to withdraw in exchange for a Taliban promise that Afghanistan will not be used as a base for future terrorist attacks.

Their latest round of talks ended on Monday without a final agreement. No date has been announced for the next round.

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