US Central Command has announced that its forces conducted airstrikes in Iraq and Syria. The attacks targeted Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and affiliated militia groups.

The Central Command said the strikes took place at 4:00 p.m. US Eastern Time on Friday against more than 85 targets.

These targets included command and control operations centers for militia groups as well as missile and unmanned aerial vehicle storage.

It said the strikes involved long-range bombers flown from the United States and employed more than 125 precision munitions.

A US government official told NHK the attack was in response to the death of three US soldiers in a drone strike at a US outpost in Jordan on Sunday.

Following this, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said that the response would be a "tiered approach" over a period of time.

On Friday US President Joe Biden said in a statement that at his direction, the US military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria used by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and affiliated militia to attack US forces.

He went on to say that the US response will continue at times and places of its choosing. He added that his country does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world but "If you harm an American, we will respond."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that air strikes took place on 17 sites on an eastern province of Deir Ezzor in Syria where Iran-backed groups are located, and 13 militia fighters were killed.