LONDON, February 3. /TASS/. London supports Washington's right to respond to attacks on US servicemen and remains a loyal ally of the United States, the UK government said, commenting on the strikes carried out by the US Air Force on the territory of Syria and Iraq.

"The UK and US are steadfast allies. We wouldn't comment on their operations, but we support their right to respond to attacks," a spokesman told the Sky News TV channel. "We have long condemned Iran's destabilising activity throughout the region, including its political, financial and military support to a number of militant groups," he said.

The US has launched four series of strikes on positions of pro-Iranian militias deployed in Syria's Deir Ezzor Governorate. The paramilitary groups' facilities in the desert region of Mayadin and east of the town of Abu Kamal near the border with Iraq were bombed. The US Air Force also struck positions of pro-Iranian armed groups near the village of Al-Qa'im in western Iraq, near the border with Syria.

The US Central Command said that the airstrikes, which hit more than 85 targets, targeted the the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, elite units of the Iranian armed forces) and related groups.