Biden's strikes on Syria infrastructure facilities condemned by Iran

WASHINGTON/DUBAI－United States President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered air strikes in eastern Syria targeting facilities used by militias, a US military spokesman said.

At Biden's direction, "US military forces conducted precision airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor, Syria, today", US Central Command spokesman Colonel Joe Buccino said in a statement.

"The US strikes targeted infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," it said.

Iran denied having any link to sites targeted by the US, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Wednesday.

"The US attack on Syrian infrastructure and people is a violation of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The sites targeted had no links to the Islamic Republic," Kanaani said.

Tuesday's air strikes hit nine bunkers in a complex used for ammunition storage and logistics. Hundreds of US troops are deployed in Syria's northeast.

There was no immediate confirmation of the US strikes from Syrian state media.

Earlier, Iranian state media said a Revolutionary Guard general "who was on a mission in Syria as a military adviser" had been killed on Sunday. The reports did not say how the general was killed, only describing him as a "defender of the sanctuary".

Iran said it has deployed its forces in Syria at the invitation of Damascus and only as advisers.

UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Wednesday the strikes killed six fighters that were guarding the targeted facilities.

The monitor, which relies on a wide network of sources in Syria, said it could not immediately determine the nationalities of those killed.

Agencies via Xinhua