US airstrike on Iran-backed facilities along Iraq-Syria border killed several militiamen: report

U.S. military action against three facilities along the Iraq-Syria border resulted in a number of casualties. 

President Joe Biden directed attacks against three militia facilities used by several Iran-backed groups engaged in unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attacks against U.S. personnel and facilities in Iraq. 

The strikes took place at approximately 6 p.m. Eastern Time Sunday, or 1 a.m. local time. The action, which Pentagon press secretary John Kirby described as "defensive," killed between four and seven militiamen. 

Two Iraqi militia officials told the Associated Press that the first strike against a weapons storage facility inside Syrian territory killed four militiamen, but Britain-based group The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the number was at least seven. 

A U.S. defense official with knowledge of the strikes told Fox News that he did not expect "a lot of causalities" because of the time of the strikes.