US responds to attack on troops with strike in Syria

U.S. forces on Tuesday struck Iranian-aligned militia groups in Syria in retaliation for the fighters attacking American bases.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a post on the social platform X that it struck a weapons storage facility and that a battle damage assessment was underway to determine the impact of the strike.

"We will not tolerate attacks on our personnel and coalition partners," said CENTCOM Commander Gen. Michael Kurilla in a statement. "We are committed to taking all necessary actions to ensure their protection."

CENTCOM said it does not currently assess that any civilian casualties resulted from the strike.

Iranian-backed groups have attacked U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria dozens of times since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023 as Tehran seeks to support its Palestinian militant ally in Gaza and take advantage of the chaos.

And the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen are also continuing to fire at merchant ships and battle the U.S. Navy in the Red Sea.

After the death of three American troops at a base in Jordan from an attack by an Iranian-backed group over the winter, the U.S. carried out deadly strikes on militia groups that largely eased up attacks in Syria and Iraq this year.

But those attacks have resumed in the past few months, and the U.S. also carried out strikes earlier this month against Iranian groups in Syria.

The U.S. has some 900 troops in Syria and around 2,500 in Iraq. American troops are in the countries to fight against the threat from Islamic terrorist group ISIS.

The Tuesday strike comes on the same day that Israel reached a ceasefire agreement in Lebanon to stop the fighting against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.