US conducts airstrikes against Iran-backed groups in Syria, retaliating for attacks on US troops

By LOLITA C. BALDOR and TARA COPP
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon and U.S. officials say U.S. fighter aircraft have conducted airstrikes on locations in eastern Syria involving Iranian-backed groups, likely causing casualties and destroying weapons stored at the two targets struck — a training location and a safe house. A defense official says that the training facility also served as a weapons storage and that the safe house functioned as a headquarters for groups affiliated with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Sunday’s airstrikes mark the third time in about two weeks the U.S. has retaliated against the militants for what has been a growing number of attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria.