U.S. hits Iranian proxies in Iraq, Syria in retaliation for deadly strikes

The U.S. military has mounted a series of air and missile strikes against Iranian proxies in Iraq and Syria, NPR has confirmed, in retaliation for a suicide drone strike that killed three American soldiers on Sunday at a remote base in Jordan.

The airstrikes, which used more than 125 precision munitions, came at 4 p.m. ET Friday and struck more than 85 targets, U.S. Central Command said in a statement.

"The facilities that were struck included command and control operations, centers, intelligence centers, rockets, and missiles, and unmanned aired vehicle storages, and logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces," CENTCOM said, referring to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, told reporters Friday that in all seven facilities used by IRGC and its proxies were hit — three in Iraq and four in Syria. The strikes, he said, occurred over 30 minutes. The Iraqi government was informed beforehand, he said.

The targets were chosen to avoid civilian casualties, he said.

The U.S. strikes are far more extensive and deadly than those that have been launched since last October, when the Israeli-Gaza war began and pro-Iranian groups like the Houthis in Yemen and militias in Iraq started an uptick of attacks.

That's because the Jan. 28 attacks on a U.S. support base in Jordan was the highest death toll of troops in the Middle East in at least a decade.Three Army Reserve soldiers from Georgia were killed when an attack drone slammed into their sleeping quarters. Another three dozen were wounded, a handful seriously. President Biden traveled Friday to Dover Air Force Base in