U.S. air strikes this week targeted Iran-linked targets in Syria and were carried out to protect and defend American personnel, U.S. President Joe Biden said. The attacks came amid a significant uptick this week in fighting involving U.S. forces.
Biden made the comments in an August 25 letter to the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, and it comes amid three days of skirmishes involving U.S. military forces and their allies.
In the letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Biden said he ordered the strikes "consistent with my responsibility to protect United States citizens both at home and abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests."
Local military officials said the U.S. military hit several targets on August 25 in the Syrian city of Mayadin in parts of Deir al-Zor Province under Syrian government control.
At least three members of an Iran-aligned militia were killed when they were targeted by a U.S. helicopter, news reports said.
The attack occurred in a town along the western bank of the Euphrates River.
Iranian militias have a strong presence in the town and have long targeted the nearby al-Omar oil field on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, where the U.S. coalition has a major base.
In the past 24 hours, the U.S. military said, four militants have been killed and seven rocket launchers destroyed.
The Pentagon said three U.S. personnel suffered minor injuries as a result of the back-and-forth on August 24.
Deir al-Zor is an oil-rich strategic province bordering Iraq that is controlled by Iran-backed militia groups and Syrian forces. The groups have been targeted in the past by Israeli warplanes.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry on August 24 denied Tehran had any link to the sites targeted.
"The U.S. attack on Syrian infrastructure and people is a violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," spokesman Nasser Kanaani was quoted as saying on the ministry's Telegram channel. "The sites targeted had no links to the Islamic Republic."