Shafaq News/ On Saturday, the Hamas Movement strongly denounced the US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria that killed 16 members of the Popular Mobilization Forces and injured 25 others.

Hamas said in a statement that these attacks "serve Israel's expansionist agenda and provide cover for its crimes against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip."

The Palestinian movement emphasized that the region will not witness stability or peace until "the Zionist aggression ceases, along with the acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing against our people in the Gaza Strip, and the end of the Zionist-Nazi occupation of our occupied Palestinian and Arab lands."

Furthermore, the statement urged Washington to reconsider its "aggressive policies and respect the sovereignty of states and the interests of Arab peoples."

Today, the US military launched airstrikes on dozens of sites related to Iranian-backed forces and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) in Iraq and Syria.

The incident is the first retaliation for a drone attack that killed three soldiers and injured about 40 others at a US base in Jordan.

"At my direction, US military forces struck targets at facilities in Iraq and Syria that the IRGC and affiliated militia use to attack US forces," US President Joe Biden said in a statement.

In a statement, US Army Central Command (CENTCOM) reported that its forces "struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from United States. The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions