ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The Syrian army on Saturday said a number of its soldiers as well as some civilians were killed during the overnight airstrikes by the United States in the east of the country, state media reported. The strikes along Syria’s border with Iraq also left many wounded, the Syrian defence ministry said in a statement published by state-run SANA news agency. The ministry did not state how many were killed or wounded. The statement said that public and private property was damaged by the airstrikes. Washington began a large-scale retaliation campaign on Friday night against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - Quds Force and affiliated militia groups in Iraq and Syria, striking more than 85 targets with over 125 precision munitions, according to US Central Command (CENTCOM). President Joe Biden said further strikes will be coming. Multiple targets including weapons depots, headquarters, radar points, and warehouses of the IRGC and its affiliated militias in Syria were hit, according to DeirEzzor24. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 18 militia members were killed. "We believe that the strikes were successful,” US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby was cited by CNN as saying, adding that they do not know how many militiamen were killed in the overnight strikes. Lt. Gen. Douglas Sims, the director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US chose the locations of the strikes “with an idea that there would likely be casualties” among the IRGC and pro-Tehran militants, reported CNN. The strikes are in retaliation for the deaths of three American soldiers last Sunday at a base in Jordan.
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