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(CNN) - US forces carried out attacks in Iraq and Syria against five facilities linked to an Iran-backed militia, blamed for a series of attacks against joint military installations in the United States and Iraq that house US forces.
The attacks, announced on Sunday, are the first significant military response in retaliation for those attacks, which have hurt numerous US military.
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The group is known as Kataib Hezbollah, a group of Shiite militias sponsored by Iran.
Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman described the attacks as "precision defensive attacks" that will "degrade" the group's ability to carry out future attacks against coalition forces.
The United States said the five targets include three Kataib Hezbollah locations in Iraq and two in Syria. The Pentagon said those locations included weapons storage facilities and command and control locations that the group uses "to plan and execute attacks against OIR (Operation Inherent Resolve) coalition forces."
US officials blamed the group for attacks like Friday's at a base near Kirkuk, Iraq, which killed an American civilian contractor and wounded four other members of the US service.
Hoffman repeated claims that this group has links with Iranian forces.
"Kataib Hezbollah has a strong bond with the Quds Force of Iran and has repeatedly received lethal help and other support from Iran that it has used to attack OIR coalition forces," said Hoffman.
The White House made no additional comments when CNN contacted her on Sunday.
Pentagon