U.S. launches Retaliatory Airstrikes In Iraq, Syria

The United States has begun strikes in Iraq and Syria in retaliation for a deadly attack on a U.S. military base in Jordan, U.S. media reported on Friday.

ABC News quoted a U.S. official as saying that retaliatory airstrikes are likely against Iran-backed militants for a drone strike on an American base in Jordan on Sunday that killed three U.S. service members.

The initial strikes by manned and unmanned aircraft were hitting command and control headquarters, ammunition storage and other facilities, according to The Associated Press.

An umbrella group known as the "Islamic Resistance in Iraq" was responsible for the drone attack, the White House said on Wednesday.

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told a regular White House briefing that the attack, which also injured more than 40 U.S. service members, was "planned, resourced and facilitated" by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group containing "multiple groups including Kataib Hezbollah."

Kataib Hezbollah is a militant group operating in Syria and Iraq that the United States has accused of being the perpetrator of repeated attacks on U.S. personnel and military facilities in the region in the aftermath of the Israeli-Hamas conflict.