American forces carried out strikes Monday against nine targets associated with Iranian-backed groups in Syria in response to attacks on Washington’s troops in that country, the US military said.

“These strikes will degrade the Iranian-backed groups’ ability to plan and launch future attacks on US and coalition forces,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM)said on social media, referring to the international coalition against the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.

CENTCOM did not say which groups were targeted or whether they were thought to have resulted in casualties.

But the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitoring group, said the strikes killed four members of groups loyal to Iran.

The US military has around 900 troops in Syria and 2,500 in Iraq as part of the anti-IS coalition that was established in 2014 to help combat the jihadists.

Since war broke out in the Gaza Strip after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, pro-Iran groups have repeatedly targeted US forces in Iraq and Syria in response to Washington’s support for Israel.

The United States has repeatedly responded to such attacks with strikes on Iran-backed groups.

-BSS.