‘Leveled’: Responders, residents describe horror of Mississippi tornado destruction

‘Leveled’: Responders, residents describe horror of Mississippi tornado destruction
‘Leveled’: Responders, residents describe horror of Mississippi tornado destruction
Medioimages/Photodisc/Getty Images/STOCK

(WINONA, Miss.) — As a deadly tornado barrelled toward Winona, Mississippi, late on Friday, one local family scrambled for safety inside their home.

“Obviously it was coming right behind us because as soon as we got in there, we heard a big boom and didn’t hear anything else for a little while,” a local man told ABC News affiliate WTVA.

He added, “So we walked out and then just came out to about 10 trees down in our yard.”

The strong and deadly tornado cut eastward across the state, destroying homes and ruining infrastructure. It touched down in cities 100 miles apart within about an hour. The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency said at least 23 people were dead. Four others were reported missing.

First responders on Saturday morning searched through the destruction, looking for victims. The United Cajun Navy President Todd Terrell said the town of “Rolling Fork is leveled. It’s pretty much devastated.”

In an interview with “GMA” on Saturday, Edgar O’Neal, a storm chaser who was on the ground in Rolling Fork, described the scene as “complete and utter devastation.”

“Houses gone. Gas stations destroyed. Trees, power lines blocking entrances everywhere,” he said. “Stray animals, people wandering the streets clearly in shock. Lots of people out there in the community helping.”

One Rolling Fork resident told WAPT that residents lost a lot more than their homes.

“I thought I was dead,” Rolling Fork resident Shanta Howard said.

“We had to help dead bodies out of the house, so that is very disturbing,” Howard said. “Actually seeing people losing their lives over a weather incident.”

Yazoo County Coroner Ricky Shivers, who is leading the response team of six corners in Rolling Fork, told ABC News he is anticipating a “really severe” death toll.

“It’s going to be catastrophic,” he said.

When asked about the damage to the town, his response was two words: “Completely devastated.” He said his team of six corners “will be prepared to get in high gear at daylight.”

The strength of the tornado, as well as its path, created a devastating result, he said.

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High interest rates hammer consumers seeking mortgage or car loans

High interest rates hammer consumers seeking mortgage or car loans
High interest rates hammer consumers seeking mortgage or car loans
Alex Wong/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — The banking crisis that erupted earlier this month elicited some predictions of a halt in interest rate hikes, since previous borrowing cost increases garnered blame for the financial distress.

Instead, the Federal Reserve on Wednesday imposed another hike, extending a yearlong blitz of rate increases that risks further banking woes and squeezes a different group: consumers in need of a loan.

The supercharged rate hikes have ballooned loan costs for mortgages, car loans and credit cards, weighing on the budgets of U.S. households or forcing them to delay buying big-ticket items.

However, some loan costs have ticked down slightly since the onset of the banking crisis in response to renewed recession fears, suggesting that relief for borrowers could arrive in the coming months but alongside a possible economic downturn, experts told ABC News.

“For ordinary families who need a new car or need to move, when the Fed hits the brakes hard and loan rates go up, that really constrains them,” Andrew Levin, an economics professor at Dartmouth College and a former Federal Reserve Board special adviser, told ABC News.

The Fed has put forward a string of borrowing cost increases as it tries to slash inflation by slowing the economy and choking off demand. That means borrowers face higher costs for everything from car loans to credit card debt to mortgages.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rate stands at 6.6%, a sharp increase from a year ago, when it registered at 4.6%, a Bankrate analysis found.

Each single percentage point increase in a mortgage rate can add thousands or tens of thousands in additional cost each year, depending on the price of a house, according to Rocket Mortgage.

Consumers tempted to offload heightened costs onto a credit card have encountered skyrocketing rate increases for that debt, too.

The average credit card interest rate offered in the U.S. over the last three months of 2022 stood at 21.6%, according to WalletHub, a jump from 18.2% a year prior.

“Higher interest rates mean you really can’t spend as much on big-ticket items,” Derek Horstmeyer, a finance professor at George Mason University’s School of Business, told ABC News. “There’s a direct connection.”

To be sure, the Fed has raised interest rates as part of an assault on sky-high inflation, a separate source of financial angst for U.S. households.

Inflation has fallen significantly from a summer peak, though it remains more than triple the Fed’s target of 2%.

“When you raise rates a lot it can feel like slamming the brakes and be pretty uncomfortable for passengers,” Levin said.

“On the other hand, families have been hit really hard in recent years by high inflation,” he added. “Passengers don’t want to go down a mountain at high speed either.”

While loan costs remain well above where they stood a year ago, the recent banking crisis has delivered a burst of unexpected relief, experts said.

Mortgage rates inched downward for the second week in a row, according to data released by Freddie Mac on Thursday.

The fall in mortgage rates owes to a quirk in the relationship between interest rates and home loan costs.

Mortgage rates track closely with rates for 10-year treasury bonds, which themselves correlate with expectations for the Fed’s benchmark interest rate over the next few years, Levin said.

If investors think interest rates will soon reverse downward, a drop in mortgage rates often precedes the interest rate pivot.

The financial distress has heightened recession fears, prompting investors to expect a significant lowering of interest rates over the next 12 to 18 months, which in turn has pushed down mortgage rates, Levin said.

“If that expectation continues, then the 10-year treasury rate will drop quite a bit,” Levin said. “Then it pulls down mortgage rates and that improves the affordability of families looking to move or first-time homebuyers looking to buy a house.”

Car loans will likely experience a trajectory similar to that of mortgage rates, though credit card costs should lag behind, Levin said.

“There might be a glimmer of hope,” he added.

Tempering such optimism, however, is the economic force that would push down interest rates: a recession.

“This crisis where we broke a few banks – that’s probably going to push us into a recession,” Horstmeyer said, noting that the adjoining job losses and decline in demand should bring down inflation and allow the Fed to ease interest rates.

“That kind of did the Fed’s job for it,” he added.

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Two dead, five missing after explosion at chocolate factory in Pennsylvania

Two dead, five missing after explosion at chocolate factory in Pennsylvania
Two dead, five missing after explosion at chocolate factory in Pennsylvania
WPVI

(WEST READING, Pa.) — Two people are dead, five are missing and multiple others are injured after an explosion at a chocolate factory Friday in West Reading, Pennsylvania, police and city officials said.

One person was found alive overnight in the rubble. Eight people are in the hospital but their conditions are unknown, according to officials.

“Rescue workers continue to search for any other possible survivors. The discovery of life overnight … provides hope that others still may be found,” Mayor Samantha Kaag said at a press conference Saturday.

Officials do not yet know what caused the explosion.

The explosion occurred around 4:57 p.m. at the RM Palmer Company in West Reading, located about 60 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

Teams are still searching through the rubble, according to West Reading Police Chief Wayne Holben.

The explosion caused destruction to one building nearby and damaged another.

Kaag, a former volunteer firefighter, called the incident “pretty scary,” adding that the explosion was so strong it pushed a building back four feet. She said the factory building was “pretty leveled” and crews will “probably” be working through the weekend to clear the debris.

Images of the scene showed smoke and flames billowing from the factory on Friday evening.

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Gordon Moore, co-founder and former chairman of Intel, dies at 94

Gordon Moore, co-founder and former chairman of Intel, dies at 94
Gordon Moore, co-founder and former chairman of Intel, dies at 94
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — Gordon Moore, the co-founder and former chairman of tech giant Intel, died Friday at the age of 94, the company and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation announced.

A press release stated Moore died “surrounded by family” in Hawaii.

Moore and Robert Noyce founded Intel in 1968. Moore initially served as executive vice president until 1975, when he became president. In 1979, Moore was named chairman of the board and chief executive officer, positions he held until 1987, when he stepped down as CEO and continued as chairman.

Moore became chairman emeritus of Intel in 1997, stepping down in 2006.

“Those of us who have met and worked with Gordon will forever be inspired by his wisdom, humility and generosity,” said foundation president Harvey Fineberg in a statement. “Though he never aspired to be a household name, Gordon’s vision and his life’s work enabled the phenomenal innovation and technological developments that shape our everyday lives. Yet those historic achievements are only part of his legacy.”

Pat Gelsinger, the CEO of Intel, said, “Gordon Moore defined the technology industry through his insight and vision. He was instrumental in revealing the power of transistors, and inspired technologists and entrepreneurs across the decades.”

Prior to Intel’s founding, Moore and Noyce were involved in the founding of Fairchild Semiconductor, where they played central roles in the initial commercial production of diffused silicon transistors and later the world’s first commercially viable integrated circuits.

“The world lost a giant in Gordon Moore, who was one of Silicon Valley’s founding fathers and a true visionary who helped pave the way for the technological revolution,” Apple CEO Tim Cook tweeted. “All of us who followed owe him a debt of gratitude. May he rest in peace.”

Along with his wife of 72 years, Betty Irene Whitaker, he established the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which has donated more than $5.1 billion to charitable causes since its founding in 2000, according to the foundation.

Moore received the National Medal of Technology from President George H.W. Bush in 1990, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2002.

In addition to his wife, Moore is survived by his sons, Kenneth and Steven, and four grandchildren.

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‘Numerous’ migrants reported injured in train car in Texas: Police

‘Numerous’ migrants reported injured in train car in Texas: Police
‘Numerous’ migrants reported injured in train car in Texas: Police
Catherine McQueen/Getty Images

(UVALDE, Texas) — “Numerous” migrants were reported injured in a train car in Uvalde County, Texas, on Friday, police said.

Medical helicopters responded to the scene in an area on US Highway 90 near Knippa, Uvalde police said on Facebook.

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told ABC San Antonio affiliate KSAT that people inside the train car called 911.

The incident was not a derailment, a source told ABC News.

The portion of the highway, which runs parallel to train tracks in the area, was closed between Uvalde and Sabinal but reopened Friday evening, police said.

The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the scene.

Knippa is located about 70 miles west of San Antonio.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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‘A game changer’: Ford CEO touts new electric vehicle plant

‘A game changer’: Ford CEO touts new electric vehicle plant
‘A game changer’: Ford CEO touts new electric vehicle plant
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the world is “on thin ice” and called for “climate action on all fronts” earlier this week while revealing the latest U.N. climate report.

The report said that greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow as chances of slowing climate change shrink — unless those emissions are cut drastically by the 2050s.

Ford CEO Jim Farley unveiled the company plans to reduce those emissions, including its new green manufacturing plant and the plant’s first vehicle, an electric truck codenamed Project T3. Farley joined “GMA3” to discuss the plans and what they mean for the future of manufacturing.

DEMARCO MORGAN: The U.N. secretary general says it will take a quantum leap and climate action to mitigate global warming. Can you tell us about the BlueOval City plant behind you and how it’s a game changer in your eyes?

JIM FARLEY: It’s a game changer for us. And good afternoon to you. Game changer for us, because we’re really starting to scale EVs. We’re number two in the U.S., and with this plant, we’re adding not only 6,000 American jobs, but, you know, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of capacity and the plant will be completely green. All the electrons that power the plant will be green electricity. So it’s not just a story about an electric vehicle. It’s actually a much bigger story about modernizing and decarbonizing our American manufacturing industrial system.

EVA PILGRIM: And today, Ford’s announcing the first vehicle to be built at that plant you’re at today, an electric vehicle codenamed Project T3. It’s a truck. What are we going to see that we haven’t seen yet in other EVs? And when will it roll out?

FARLEY: Well, you know, our Lightning is the best-selling electric pickup in the U.S., but this will be its successor and it will be fully software updatable. So over the air we’ll be able to change and improve the truck every day for our customers. And we think it’ll be the first technology we’re going to land where on a sunny day in the highway, you’ll be able to go to sleep in your Ford truck. So we don’t have autonomous features for commuters where you know you’re going to get the most precious thing in your life back, which is time.

MORGAN: And Jim, it is no secret that Ford has clearly embraced the electrical vehicle market as have others, and yet EVs have faced their share of problems. About 18 Ford F-150 Lightnings had to be recalled for a battery fire issue earlier this year. There have been Tesla battery fires, GM, BMW, Volvo, all had recalls due to EV fire risks. How can you assure people that your EVs are safe?

FARLEY: Well, I mean, I’m so proud of the Lightning team. They stopped production. We stopped the battery production. We did everything we needed to do. We found that fire. It happened at Ford, not in customer’s hands. We did exactly the right thing. Unlike other brands, we stopped the production. None of them got out in customer’s hands. And that’s exactly what we have to do to build a trusted brand on EV. We’re also going to diverse battery chemistry that has less risk, like the LMP battery plant we’re building in Michigan.

PILGRIM: We have to talk about money. EVs are expensive, more expensive than traditional cars. So if this is supposed to be better for our planet, how do you make these vehicles affordable so everyone who wants one can actually have one?

FARLEY: Yeah, great question. And that’s a big part of Ford, obviously. You know, we democratized affordable vehicles, so that’s a big part of our DNA. I think the first part is we have to design the vehicle differently to be a lot simpler. We have to scale to hundreds of thousands from tens of thousands. Like today, we’re going to have a more efficient distribution without inventory like we have today with our dealers. And we’re going to have to build it with less labor content. So we have to change everything, basically.

MORGAN: Jim, before you go, the U.N. climate report says we have to cut global emissions in half by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Are you optimistic that the world can reach that goal? Is it possible?

FARLEY: It’s possible if companies like Ford do what we’ve got to do. It’s absolutely possible.

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New Utah laws require minors to get parental consent to open, maintain social media accounts

New Utah laws require minors to get parental consent to open, maintain social media accounts
New Utah laws require minors to get parental consent to open, maintain social media accounts
The Good Brigade/Getty Images

(SALT LAKE CITY, Utah) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed two bills into law on on Friday that seek to limit the harm caused by social media to children and teens by requiring parents and guardians to consent to their children having accounts and by prohibiting social media companies from designing addictive features.

“Our administration is very concerned about how social media is affecting our children. Youth rates of depression and other mental health issues are on the rise, and social media companies know their products are toxic,” Cox said in a recording posted online. “As leaders and as parents we have a responsibility to protect our young people.”

As of March 1, 2024, social media companies will be required to verify the adult age of Utah residents seeking to open or maintain social media accounts. Those under the age of 18 will need the consent of a parent or guardian.

Social media companies will also be required to allow parents full access to their child’s account, create curfew settings that blocks access overnight, prohibit direct messages from anyone the child hasn’t followed or friended and block underage accounts from search results.

Social media companies will also be prohibited from collecting a child’s data or target their accounts for advertising, according to the law.

Violations may be reported to the Consumer Protection Division, which can fine social media companies up to $2,500 per violation and can seek additional remedies through courts.

A second law, which will go into effect on Dec. 31, will implement penalties on social media companies that target users under the age of 18 with addictive algorithms. Social media companies will be prohibited from “using a design or feature that causes a minor to have an addiction to the company’s social media platform,” according to the law.

Violators could face a fine of $250,000 and a penalty of up to $2,500 per child who is exposed to an addictive feature. Companies that perform quarterly audits and address addictive feature violations within 30 days could avoid the fine, according to the law.

Parents will also be able to sue social media companies directly for the financial, physical or emotional harm to their children. For those under the age of 16, harm would be presumed under the law and social media companies would have to prove otherwise.

“Utah’s leading the way in holding social media companies accountable – and we’re not slowing down anytime soon,” Cox said in a tweet.

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“Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina to be released from prison, Rwandan government says

“Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina to be released from prison, Rwandan government says
“Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina to be released from prison, Rwandan government says
Darrin Klimek/Getty Images

(LONDON) — The Rwandan government announced Friday that Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the acclaimed 2004 film Hotel Rwanda, will be released from prison nearly three years after he was captured and detained.

The 68-year-old Rwandan hotelier-turned-dissident, who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, was tried and convicted on a slew of terrorism-related charges in Rwanda’s High Court in Kigali in 2021. He was sentenced to 25 years behind bars.

Rusesabagina’s prison sentence was commuted by presidential order on Friday after consideration of requests for his clemency and approval by the Cabinet, according to Rwandan Minister for Justice and Attorney General Emmanuel Ugirashebuja.

“Under Rwandan law, commutation of sentence does not extinguish the underlying conviction,” Ugirashebuja said in a statement. “If any individual benefitting from early release repeats offences of a similar nature, the commutation can be revoked and the remainder of the prison sentence will be served, in accordance with the conditions specified in the Presidential Order. Other penalties imposed by the Court, such as compensation owed to victims, are not affected by this commutation and thus remain in force.”

Rwandan government spokesperson Stephanie Nyombayire confirmed to ABC News that Rusesabagina would be freed within 24 hours.

When asked for comment, Rusesabagina’s family told ABC News in a statement on Friday: “We are pleased to hear the news about Paul’s release. The family is hopeful to reunite with him soon.”

Last year, the U.S. Department of State determined that Rusesabagina, who has maintained his innocence, had been “wrongfully detained.” The U.S. House of Representatives subsequently passed a bipartisan resolution calling on the Biden administration to demand Rusesabagina’s release on humanitarian grounds. As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Rwanda in August 2022, members of Congress sent a letter urging him to push for Rusesabagina’s “immediate release” and “safe return to the United States.”

Rusesabagina was the manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, when divisions between Rwanda’s two main ethnic groups came to a head. The Rwandan government, controlled by extremist members of the Hutu ethnic majority, launched a systemic campaign with its allied Hutu militias to wipe out the Tutsi ethnic minority, slaughtering more than 800,000 people over the course of 100 days, mostly Tutsis and the moderate Hutus who tried to protect them, according to estimates from the United Nations.

More than 1,200 people took shelter in the Hotel des Mille Collines during what is often described as the darkest chapter of Rwanda’s history. Rusesabagina, who is of both Hutu and Tutsi descent, said he used his job and connections with the Hutu elite to protect the hotel’s guests from massacre. The events were later immortalized in Hotel Rwanda, with American actor Don Cheadle’s portrayal of Rusesabagina earning an Academy Award nomination for best actor in 2005.

Rusesabagina, who fled Rwanda with his family in 1996 and later settled in San Antonio, Texas, rose to fame and was lauded as a hero after the movie’s release. In 2005, he was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by the American president. He also wrote a book, gave paid speeches and became an outspoken critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who has been in office for the last two decades.

In August 2020, Rusesabagina traveled to Dubai to meet up with a Burundi-born pastor who Rusesabagina alleges had invited him to speak at churches in Burundi about his experience during the Rwandan genocide. The pair hopped on a private jet that Rusesabagina believed would take them to Burundi’s capital, according to Rusesabagina’s international legal team.

Rusesabagina did not know that the pastor was working as an informant for the Rwanda Investigation Bureau and had tricked him into boarding a chartered flight to Kigali. He was subsequently arrested and charged with several terrorism-related offenses, with Rwandan prosecutors alleging that Rusesabagina wanted to go to Burundi to coordinate with rebel groups based there and in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Rusesabagina’s family and lawyers have repeatedly expressed concern over his condition and treatment while under detention in Rwanda’s capital. The married father of six is a cancer survivor and is prescribed medication for a heart disorder. He was held in solitary confinement for more than eight months after his capture and has been denied proper medical care, according to his international legal team. The U.N.’s Nelson Mandela Rules state that keeping someone in solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days is torture.

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The Black Keys contributing new song to upcoming blues compilation

The Black Keys contributing new song to upcoming blues compilation
The Black Keys contributing new song to upcoming blues compilation
ABC

A new The Black Keys song will be included in an upcoming compilation being released via frontman Dan Auerbach‘s Easy Eye Sound label.

The record is titled Tell Everybody! (21st Century Juke Joint Blues from Easy Eye Sound) and “spans the diverse blues spectrum, a payment of respect and admiration for the musicians carrying this American tradition into this century and beyond.” The Keys’ contribution is a track called “No Lovin’.”

Tell Everybody! is due out on August 11. It also includes a new solo track by Auerbach, as well as a guest spot by Joe Walsh. You can listen to the title track, recorded by Robert Finley, now via digital outlets.

The Black Keys previously released a blues covers album, Delta Kream, in 2021. They followed that with their latest original record, 2022’s Dropout Boogie.

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Additional attacks on American bases in Syria Friday after US retaliatory airstrikes on Iranian-backed groups

Additional attacks on American bases in Syria Friday after US retaliatory airstrikes on Iranian-backed groups
Additional attacks on American bases in Syria Friday after US retaliatory airstrikes on Iranian-backed groups
omersukrugoksu/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — A U.S. official told ABC News that there were two new attacks late Friday on two U.S. facilities in Deir ez-Zor Province in eastern Syria after another earlier in the day and a drone attack on Thursday that prompted retaliatory U.S. airstrikes that targeted Iranian-backed militias believed responsible.

Both attacks late Friday happened about the same time, the official said. One involved three drones targeting one facility and the other involved five rockets fired at a separate facility, according to the official, who said one American service member was wounded and was in stable condition.

The official said that two of the three drones that targeted one U.S. facility were shot down, but one drone made it through. There were no injuries in that attack.

The official said that five rockets were fired at another U.S. facility where the American service member was wounded. That individual is in stable condition, the official said, and that a damage assessment of the facility was still underway.

Earlier Friday, a Pentagon spokesman said the first of the three attacks on U.S. bases did not cause any damage and there were no injuries.

“On the morning of March 24th, at approximately 8:05 am local time, 10 rockets targeted coalition forces at the Green Village in northeast Syria,” said Lt. Col. Phil Ventura, a Pentagon spokesman.

“The attack resulted in no injuries to US or coalition personnel and no damage to equipment or facilities,” he added.

The new attacks, of which there have been about 80 since the start of 2021, come a day after the U.S. military conducted retaliatory airstrikes in eastern Syria on Thursday against the Iranian-backed groups after a one-way explosive drone attack targeting a U.S. base in the region killed a U.S. contractor and injured six others, including five U.S. service members, the Pentagon said.

“Earlier today, a U.S. contractor was killed and five U.S. service members and one additional U.S. contractor were wounded after a one-way unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

Two of the wounded service members were treated on site, while the other four Americans were medically evacuated to coalition medical facilities in Iraq, officials said. A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that both contractors were American.

U.S. intelligence assessed that the one-way attack drone that struck the base on Thursday was Iranian in origin, according to the statement. Iran has used such drones in the past in attacks on Saudi Arabia and in Yemen, but this drone technology has become more noticeable after it provided hundreds of Shahed drones to Russia that have been used in attacks against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure targets.

Earlier on Thursday, Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who as the commander of U.S. Central Command is the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, told Congress that there have been 78 such attacks since the beginning of 2021.

“At the direction of President [Joe] Biden, I authorized U.S. Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),” Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in the statement, issued late Thursday.

“The airstrikes were conducted in response today’s attack, as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC,” he added.

A U.S. official told ABC News that the airstrikes were carried out by U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter aircraft as part of a response approved by President Joe Biden earlier on Thursday.

Biden was enroute to Ottawa, Canada, when he approved the airstrikes presented by the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community as response options to the drone attack, White House spokesman John Kirby said during an appearance on CNN.

“He made the decision very, very shortly in that discussion to authorize the strikes against these particular targets,” Kirby said. “We’re going to work to protect our people and our facilities as best we can. It’s a dangerous environment.”

“We are not seeking a conflict with Iran,” said Kirby. “We’ve been very clear with the Iranians and with our partners about how serious the mission that we’re doing in Syria is and how we’re going to protect that mission.”

“Iran should not be involved in supporting these attacks on our facilities or on our people, we’ve made that very very clear,” said Kirby.

At a news conference with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Friday afternoon, before the reports of even more attacks, Biden said, “make no mistake, the United States does not — does not, emphasize — seek conflict with Iran but be prepared for us to act forcefully protect our people. That’s exactly what happened last night.”

The U.S. has about 900 troops in eastern Syria providing assistance to Syrian Kurdish forces in preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State.

In recent months, some of the bases have been the target of drone attacks that had, in most instances, not led to injuries or physical damage. Iranian-backed groups in Syria are believed to have been responsible for these attacks.

“These precision strikes are intended to protect and defend U.S. personnel. The United States took proportionate and deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties,” the Pentagon statement read.

“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing,” Austin said. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”

“Our thoughts are with the family and colleagues of the contractor who was killed and with those who were wounded in the attack earlier today,” the defense secretary added.

In a statement, U.S. Central Command leader Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said, in part, that the U.S. “will always take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing. We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks.”

“Our troops remain in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, which benefits the security and stability of not only Syria, but the entire region,” he added.

During Thursday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing focused on the Middle East and Africa, Kurilla was asked by Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon about the frequency of Iranian proxy attacks on U.S. forces.

There have been 78 such attacks since the beginning of 2021, according to Kurilla.

“It is periodic. We see periods where they will do more,” he said

“So what Iran does to hide its hand is they use Iranian proxies — that’s under UAVs or rockets — to be able to attack our forces in Iraq or Syria,” Kurilla added.

ABC News analyst Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and retired CIA officer, said the U.S. “must strike back at the Iranian forces in Syria responsible for these attacks to such an extent that they know the consequences of killing and injuring Americans will not be worth the costs.”

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