Iraq-Syria border after US air strikes on February 26, 2021
Iraq-Syria border after US air strikes on February 26, 2021Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

Satellite footage released by Maxar Technologies show the extent of the damage caused by US air strikes on targets belonging to Iranian-backed militias on Thursday night.

CNN reported that seven 500-pound bombs were used in the attacks which targeted a compound used by two Iranian-affiliated Iraqi militias, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada.

The before-and-after satellite images released by the space technology company show vividly just how much destruction those bombs wrought.

A "before" image shows a compound, just over a third of a kilometer (about 370 yards) from the Iraqi border, containing around a dozen buildings of various sizes. In an "after" image, almost all the buildings have been destroyed, and the dirt in and around the compound blackened by the blasts.

Iraq-Syria border after US air strikes on February 26, 2021
Iraq-Syria border after US air strikes on February 26, 2021Maxar Technologies/Handout via REUTERS

The Pentagon said the strikes were retaliation for a rocket attack in Iraq earlier this month that killed one civilian contractor and wounded a US service member and other coalition troops.

A Pentagon spokesman said the US air strikes "destroyed multiple facilities at a border control point used by a number of Iranian- backed militant groups."

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 17 members of the pro-Iranian militia were killed in the US air strike.

The head of the Observatory told AFP that "the attack destroyed at least three ammunition trucks and there were many dead."

Speaking to reporters after the strike, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, "I'm confident in the target that we went after, we know what we hit.”

On Friday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that the US air strikes in Syria were meant to send the message that President Joe Biden will act to protect Americans.

Rocket attacks have regularly targeted Iraqi bases as well as the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad, where the US embassy is located, since the US elimination of top Iranian General Qassem Soleimani last January.

Former US President Donald Trump had warned the Islamic Republic against further attacks on American interests in Iraq and said, “Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will hold Iran responsible. Think it over.”

The rocket attack for which the US retaliated in Thursday’s air strikes was the first attack in Iraq since Biden took office.