Syria strikes a warning to Iran

US President Joe Biden says Iran should view his decision to authorise air strikes in Syria as a warning that it can expect consequences for its support of militia groups that threaten US interests or personnel.

‘‘You can’t act with impunity. Be careful,’’ Biden said when asked what message he had intended to send.

The Pentagon said the attacks destroyed several buildings in eastern Syria but were not intended to eradicate the militia groups that used them to facilitate attacks inside Iraq.

Administration officials have defended the Friday air strikes as legal and appropriate, saying they took out facilities that housed valuable ‘‘capabilities’’ used by Iranian-backed militia groups to attack American and allied forces in Iraq.

John Kirby, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, said members of Congress were notified before the strikes.

In a political twist for the new Administration, several leading members of Congress in Biden’s party denounced the strikes, the first military actions he had authorised. Senators Tim Kaine (Virginia) and Chris Murphy (Connecticut) said the attacks were carried out without authorisation from lawmakers.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden used his constitutional authority to defend US personnel. ‘‘The targets were chosen to correspond to the recent attacks on facilities and to deter the risk of additional attacks over the coming weeks.’’

Among the recent attacks cited was a February 15 rocket attack in northern Iraq that killed a civilian contractor and wounded a US service member.

An Iraqi militia official said the strikes killed one fighter and wounded several others.

Biden’s decision to attack militia groups in Syria did not appear to signal an intention to widen US military involvement in the region, but rather to demonstrate a will to defend US troops in Iraq and send a message to Iran.

The US has previously targeted facilities in Syria belonging to Kataeb Hezbollah, which it has blamed for numerous attacks targeting US personnel and interests in Iraq. The Iraqi Kataeb is separate from the Lebanese Hezbollah movement.

The group confirmed that one of its fighters was killed, and said it reserved the right to retaliate, without elaborating. Kataeb Hezbollah, like other Iranianbacked factions, maintains fighters in Syria to both fight against the Islamic State group and assist Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces in that country’s civil war.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said he was confident the US had hit back at ‘‘the same Shia militants’’ that carried out the February 15 rocket attack.

Syria condemned the US strikes, calling them ‘‘a cowardly and systematic American aggression’’ and warning of consequences.