UPDATE 2 - US begins retaliatory airstrikes in Iraq, Syria after 3 American troops killed

ADDS COMMENTS FROM US GENERAL, WHITE HOUSE

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US began to carry out a wave of airstrikes Friday against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC)-Quds Force and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria after a suicide drone attack killed three American troops in Jordan.

The strikes were conducted with numerous aircraft, including long-range bombers that launched from the US, Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. In all, more than 85 targets were hit with more than 125 precision munitions.

Facilities that were hit include command and control and intelligence centers; rocket, missile and drone storage areas; and "logistics and munition supply chain facilities of militia groups and their IRGC sponsors who facilitated attacks against U.S. and Coalition forces," said CENTCOM.

The IRGC-Quds Forces is the corps' external operations division.

President Joe Biden said the attacks were just the beginning of the US response.

"It will continue at times and places of our choosing,” he said in a statement. "The United States does not seek conflict in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. But let all those who might seek to do us harm know this: If you harm an American, we will respond.”

The White House said the targets struck Friday "were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties," and were chosen "based on clear, irrefutable evidence that they were connected to attacks on US personnel in the region."

"The Department of Defense is in the early stages of its battle damage assessment, but we believe that the strikes were successful. We do not know at this time if or how many militants may have been killed or wounded," National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby told reporters.

All of the targets were based at seven locations -- three in Iraq and four in Syria. All US aircraft have left the theater without incident.

Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of operations at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, separately said the US determined ahead of the strikes that "IRGC, as well as Iranian aligned militia group personnel, who use these locations."

"We made these strikes tonight with an idea that there would likely be casualties associated with people inside those facilities," he added.

A suicide drone attack killed three American troops and injured at least 34 others Sunday at Tower 22, a remote military installation in northeastern Jordan near the Syrian and Iraqi borders. The US has formally blamed an umbrella group of Iranian-backed militias called the Islamic Resistance in Iraq. The group also claimed responsibility.

Iranian-backed militias have been carrying out drone and missile attacks on US forces in the region for months amid Israel's ongoing war against the besieged Gaza Strip.

Sunday's fatalities were the first to have resulted from the attacks. Most others were intercepted or resulted in minor injuries to American forces.

Biden said Tuesday that he has determined how he will respond to Sunday's drone attack, but did not offer details on what it would entail. While he has emphasized that he is not seeking to create "a wider war in the Middle East," he said he holds Iran responsible "in the sense that they're supplying weapons to the people who did it."

Iran vowed Wednesday to decisively respond to any attack that targets its territories or interests.

Kirby said the US informed the Iraqi government before the strikes were conducted. He denied that any contacts with Iran have taken place since the attack on Sunday.