"White House Admits Misleading Iraq on Airstrike Warning"

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby apologized for falsely claiming that Iraqi officials were notified before a series of coordinated air strikes, which was later retracted by the State Department. The strikes were in response to the deaths of three U.S. service members, and the White House stated that the U.S. is "not looking for a war with Iran" and that the strikes were meant to "deescalate" tensions. A drone attack on a military base in eastern Syria left at least six allied Kurdish soldiers dead, and militia fighters have been carrying out assaults on U.S. forces and civilian targets in the region.