SENDING A CLEAR MESSAGE: On orders of President Joe Biden, U.S. F-15 and F-16 fighter jets carried out airstrikes Sunday against buildings along the Iraq-Syria border the Pentagon says have been used by Iranian-backed militia groups to facilitate attacks against U.S. forces based in Iraq.

“We are in Iraq at the invitation of the government of Iraq for the sole purpose of assisting the Iraqi Security Forces in their efforts to defeat ISIS,” said Pentagon spokesman John Kirby in a statement released last night. “The United States took necessary, appropriate, and deliberate action designed to limit the risk of escalation, but also to send a clear and unambiguous deterrent message.”