US fighter jets have struck an Iranian-linked target in eastern Syria in response to attacks on US personnel, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said.
"US military forces have launched a counterstrike against a facility in eastern Syria used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its affiliates. "This strike was carried out by two US F-15s against a weapons storage facility," Austin said in a statement.
Nine people linked to Iran-backed groups in Syria were killed in a US strike on the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor, Rami Abdel Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
It is the second time in about two weeks that the US has struck a target in Syria it says is linked to Iran, which supports a number of groups Washington accuses of stepping up attacks on its forces in the Middle East.
Frequent attacks against American troops are related to the war between Israel and Hamas.
The US is seeking to prevent Iran and its backers from turning the war between Israel and Hamas into a regional conflict, but repeated attacks and retaliatory strikes risk a clash between Washington and Tehran.
The US maintains about 900 troops in Syria and another 2,500 in Iraq as part of efforts to prevent the resurgence of the Islamic State. /BGNES
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