The United States launched overnight air strikes against Iran-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, drawing condemnation from both governments on Feb 3, and promised more to come in retaliation for a deadly attack on US troops.
The US blamed the Jan 28 drone attack on a US base in Jordan on forces backed by Iran, but did not strike inside Iranian territory, with both Washington and Teheran seemingly keen to avoid all-out war.
But with tensions in the region already running high in the face of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, both Damascus and Baghdad joined Teheran in accusing Washington of undermining the stability of the whole region.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said US warplanes struck "more than 85 targets at seven facilities utilised by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the militant groups that they sponsor", three of them in Iraq and four in Syria.
"These targets were carefully selected to avoid civilian casualties," he added.
But Iraqi government spokesman Bassem al-Awadi said civilians were among at least 16 people killed in the US strikes in western Iraq.
He added that "the security of Iraq and the region will find itself on the brink of an abyss" because of the strikes.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry said the strikes served to "inflame the conflict in the Middle East in an extremely dangerous way".
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