Satellite images reveal extent of damage caused by Biden administration's first military action - CNN

The compound, according to the Pentagon, was used by two Iranian-affiliated Iraqi militias, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada.

Kata'ib Hezbollah acknowledged only one dead, without specifying where on the Iraqi-Syrian border he died.

The Pentagon says the strike was intended as a US response to a series of recent rocket and mortar attacks on US and coalition positions in Iraq.

Pentagon officials told CNN the compound it targeted was not linked to these attacks but Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he was "confident" it was used by the same militias targeting US and coalition forces in Iraq with rocket attacks.

The armed groups allegedly using it, Kata'ib Hezbollah and Kata'ib Sayyid Al-Shuhada, are just two of a myriad of militias that came to prominence during the war against ISIS in Syria and Iraq, filling the void left by an Iraqi army that was in full retreat.

Now the US finds itself in a situation where it hopes to make it clear it won't tolerate more attacks by Iranian-backed militias on its positions in Iraq, but at the same time wants to reopen a dialogue with Iran.