SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The U.S. military on Thursday carried out an attack in Syria’s Dier Ez-zor province targeting Iran-backed militias, according to local media reports.
Several targets in Syria’s government-held-areas of Deir-Ez-zor province came under attack by the U.S. military, local media reported, and at least three members of an Iran-backed militia were killed when they were targeted by a U.S. helicopter.
The attacked site is located in the Syrian city of Mayadin, local military sources said that the targeted group was about to prepare a rocket launcher in the town which lies along the western bank of the Euphrates River.
Thursday’s attack marked the second consecutive day of violence between the U.S. military and Iran-backed militants. According to a U.S. official, the attack was retaliatory.
Earlier on Wednesday, the U.S. military said it carried out air strikes in Syria’s Dier Ez-zor province, a strategic province that borders Iraq and contains oil fields in the east of Syria, the strikes targeted facilities used by militias affiliated with Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Wednesday’s strikes came a day after President Joe Biden authorized U.S. air strikes in Syria on an ammunition depot and other facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), according to Reuters.
Iran-backed militias established a foothold in Syria while fighting in support of President Bashar al-Assad since Syria’s civil war in 2011.