Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiReuters

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

She added that future US actions in the region will be deliberative and will aim to deescalate tensions in Syria.

Her comments follow Thursday night’s US air strike in Syria against a structure belonging to Iranian-backed militia.

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 spokesperson 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.”

Syria said on Friday that the US air strikes were a cowardly act and urged Biden not to follow “the law of the jungle”.

“Syria condemns in the strongest terms the cowardly U.S. attack on areas in Deir al-Zor near the Syrian-Iraqi border,” the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement quote by Reuters.

“It (the Biden administration) is supposed to stick to international legitimacy, not to the law of the jungle as (did) the previous administration,” it added.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)