The US has begun a wave of retaliatory airstrikes targeting militants in Iraq and Syria, officials have told the Associated Press, Reuters and our partner network NBC News.
US Central Command has released more detail about the strikes, saying it has hit more than 85 targets.
In a post on X, it said the strikes were conducted at 4pm Eastern time (9pm UK time) in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force and affiliated militia groups.
The strikes “employed more than 125 precision munitions” and involved several including long-range bombers flown from the US, it said.
The US blamed the attack on the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias.
Iran-backed militia groups throughout the region have used the conflict between Israel and Hamas to justify striking US facilities at least 166 times.
