US military says strikes in Syria targeted ‘Iranian backed groups’ 

The US military has carried out strikes against targets in Syria in what the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said was a response to recent attacks on US forces by “Iranian-aligned targets” in the country.

CENTCOM’s commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said in a statement early on Tuesday that the US military action sent a “clear” message to armed groups backed by Iran and operating in Syria.

“Attacks against US and coalition partners in the region will not be tolerated,” Kurilla said, describing attacks on US military personnel in Syria over the past 24 hours as “reckless”.

“These strikes will degrade the Iranian-backed groups’ ability to plan and launch future attacks,” CENTCOM said, adding that nine targets in two locations were hit in the US attacks.

The US has about 900 soldiers based in the eastern part of Syria and 2,500 more in neighbouring Iraq, whose stated mission is to advise and assist local forces battling to prevent a resurgence of the group known as ISIL (ISIS), which in 2014 seized large swaths of both Syria and Iraq but was later defeated in fierce fighting.

No US personnel were reported injured in the attacks that CENTCOM said had been carried out over the previous 24 hours by Iranian-backed groups.

The US military also did not specify which armed groups were targeted in Syria or whether the strikes were thought to have resulted in casualties.

United Kingdom-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that four Syrian members of Iranian-backed armed groups were killed on Monday and 10 others were severely injured when fighter jets of the “international coalition” attacked a “headquarters” in the Al Mayadeen area of eastern Syria’s Deir Az Zor countryside.

Syria state media reported earlier on Monday that Israel’s Air Force had attacked an aid convoy in the Shamsin area, located approximately 20km (12 miles) from the border with Lebanon, forcing the closure of Syria’s main north-south highway that links the capital, Damascus, with the northern city of Aleppo.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and state television did not provide details about the convoy that was attacked, though the area is known as a gathering point for refugees fleeing from Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

On Sunday, an Israeli air strike also hit a residential building in the Damascus suburb of Sayyida Zeinab, killing seven civilians, including women and children, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported. Twenty others were wounded in the attack, SANA said.

Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes in Syria in recent years but rarely acknowledges the attacks on its neighbour, which it claims target Iranian-supported armed groups that threaten Israel’s security.