The US armed forces launched airstrikes in Syria on Sunday, targeting facilities “linked” to Iran, in response to “continued attacks” against US military personnel in Syrian and Iraqi territory, the country’s Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced.

“The U.S. armed forces today (Sunday) carried out precision strikes on facilities in eastern Syria used by the Revolutionary Guards,” an elite body of Iran’s military, as well as “organizations linked to Iran, in response to the continued attacks against US (military) personnel in Iraq and Syria,” Mr. Austin said in a news release released by his services.

“For the president (s.a. Joe Biden) there is no higher priority than the safety of American military personnel” and “he ordered today’s (s.a. yesterday) action to make it clear that the U.S. will defend itself them, their staff and their interests,” Mr Austin added.

A Pentagon official, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said one of the targets was a weapons depot and the second a “command and control” facility, wording that probably means it was a headquarters of some kind. He added that the airstrikes took place in the last three hours and that the US armed forces are still in the process of assessing whether there were any casualties.

This is the third such American strike on Syrian territory, after those of October 26 and November 8.