forced the u.s. military s hand. cnn s arwa damon is this has been going on for weeks and weeks and weeks. this wasn t the first set of attacks against this iraqi facility and others. there s american lives at risk. and today, we took a decisive response. we will not stand for the islamic republic of iran to take actions that put american men and women in jeopardy. all right. let s bring in cnn s arwa damon, live in istanbul. i know a lot of the talk now is concern over potential escalation here. reporter: a lot of concern over that, layla. if history is anything to look at, valid concerns, as well. the pentagon says it was targeting command and control centers and weapons depots, belonging to the iranian-backed shia militia.
warning the u.s. of consequences after the u.s. launched attacks on shiite militia. the u.s. blames iran for a series of attacks on u.s. facilities housing american forces. mark esper says more action is possible. mike pompeo says iran forced the u.s. military s hand. this has been going on for weeks and weeks and weeks. this wasn t the first set of attacks against this iraqi facility and others. there s american lives at risk. and today, we took a decisive response. we will not stand for the islamic republic of iran to take actions that put american men and women in jeopardy. cnn s arwa damon is live for us in istanbul. arwa, sort it out for us. reporter: christine, these strikes, three in iraq, two inside syria, against an iranian-backed militia group.
targeting five facilities the pentagon says are tied to an iranian-backed militia. that group is blamed for a series of attacks on facilities housing american forces. national security officials briefed president trump yesterday. mark esper says more action is possible. and then, mike pompeo says iran forced the u.s. military s hand. this has been going on for weeks and weeks and weeks. this wasn t the first set of attacks against this iraqi facility and others. there s american lives at risk. and today, we took a decisive response. we will not stand for the islamic republic of iran to take actions that put american men and women in jeopardy. all right. let s bring in cnn s arwa damon, live in istanbul. tensions are high. there s fear of escalation. and there s questions about iraq s stability, as well. reporter: it is a very messy
attack that killed an american going, 2020 democrats barn contractor last week. jillian: doug luzader live in storming the early states as washington with new developments, good morning, 2019 comes to a close, 39 days doug. good morning, series of attacks, 5 of them in both iraq and syria, 3 in western iraq and until iowa, will it be enough to compete with the president s 2 in eastern syria, all sites to momentum or panel up next to debate that, you don t want to believe to belong to hezbollah miss it. and targeted area in northern iraq and ended up killing u.s. defense contractor, important enough to mobilize the secretaries of defense and state both of whom traveled the florida to brief the president. this wasn t the first set of attacks against this particular iraqi facility and others, what we did take a decisive response. they had a brief press conference after briefing the president and they said they spoke to him about what might come next.
was on the mend. i m happy to report i m still here. and ready to return to jeopardy. in the course of the last 72 hours i will leave to secretary esper to talk about the military context of our policy with respect to the islamic republic of iran. the attacks that took place against an iraqi facility threatened american forces. this has been going on now for weeks and weeks and weeks. this wasn t the first set of attacks against this particular iraqi facility and others where there are american lives at risk. and today what we did was take a decisive response. it makes clear what president trump has said for months and months and months. which is that we will not stand for the islamic republic of iran to take actions that put american men and women in jeopardy. we will always honor that commitment to take decisive action when that takes place, and we continue to demand that the islamic republic of iran act