<p>The Pentagon said Thursday's strike, which according to a Syrian war monitoring group killed 22 militia members, was in response to a series of rocket attacks targeting US soldiers in Iraq.</p><p>One of those strikes, on a military complex in the Kurdish regional capital Arbil on February 15, killed a civilian and a foreign contractor working with coalition forces, and wounded several US contractors and a soldier.</p><p>Psaki said the decision behind the strike was "deliberative" and that Biden's aim was for "deescalating activity in both Syria and Iraq."</p><p>Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said two F-15E "Strike Eagles" dropped seven precision-guided munitions, totally destroying nine facilities and partially destroying two facilities.</p><p>Kirby said the location targeted near the Syria-Iraq border was "known to facilitate Iranian-aligned militia group activity."</p><p>He said the Pentagon had "preliminary details about casualties" but declined to release any figures.</p><p>"We're confident that these were legitimate targets that were utilized by groups associated with these recent attacks," Kirby said.</p><p>He said Iraqi and Kurdish partners had provided intelligence that led to the identification of the groups behind the rocket attacks.</p><p>Kirby also responded to criticism by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who said Moscow was notified just four or five minutes before the US struck the targets.</p><p>"We did what we believe was the proper amount of notification for this," Kirby said. "It shouldn't come as a shock to anybody that we're going to do what we have to do to notify but we're also going to do what we have to do to protect our forces."</p><p>Kirby and Psaki also addressed criticism from some members of Congress that Biden should have sought legislators' authority before ordering the strike.</p><p>Psaki, the White House spokeswoman, said the Pentagon briefed congressional leadership "before the action."</p><p>"There will be a full classified briefing early next week at the latest," she said.</p>
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