WASHINGTON — U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple Iranian-backed militia positions across eastern Iraq after more than 30 drone attacks directed by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targeted Saudi Arabia and the Kurdistan Region over a 72-hour period, U.S. Central Command announced.

“U.S. and Saudi fighter aircraft struck multiple terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq in a strong response to over 30 IRGC-directed aerial drone attacks in the last 72 hours,” CENTCOM said. The command added that from February through April, “there were more than 600 attempted attacks on U.S. citizens and facilities by Iran-aligned terrorist militias in Iraq.”

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, the official paramilitary umbrella that includes most of the Iranian-backed militias, said at least 20 of its members were killed in the retaliatory strikes. Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al Zaidi, who had been visiting Turkey when the strikes occurred, returned to Baghdad overnight and convened “an emergency meeting of the Ministerial Council for National Security today,” according to Iraq’s Security Media Cell.

The strikes followed days of escalating militia provocations. Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani accused militias operating near Mosul of targeting Erbil. The Saudi Foreign Ministry confirmed drone attacks launched from Iraqi territory, and the Kingdom of Jordan said it had intercepted drones over its eastern desert near the Iraqi border. Abu Ala al Walai, commander of the U.S.-sanctioned Kataib Sayyid al Shuhada militia, had publicly backed the Iranian-backed Houthis’ attempt to blockade Saudi Arabia earlier in July.

Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr, who leads the Saraya al Salam militia and announced in May that his forces would accept government authority as part of Zaidi’s disarmament drive, condemned both sides. “I condemn the targeting of sacred Iraqi territories by all states and entities and condemn the actions of brazen militias to drag Iraq into a useless war,” Sadr said.

Several leading Iraqi political figures denounced the U.S.-Saudi operation, including the office of the President of the Republic of Iraq, Deputy Speaker of Parliament Adnan Faihan al Dulami, former Speaker of Parliament Mohammed al Halbousi, former Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al Sudani, head of the Badr Organization Hadi al Amiri, and Qais Khazali, head of the Asaib Ahl al Haq militia. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a coalition of Iranian-backed militias that conducts operations against U.S. forces, said it would hold a meeting to discuss a response.

Washington has pressured Prime Minister Zaidi to rein in and disarm the militias since he took office. Over the past decade, the U.S. has sanctioned numerous Iranian-backed Iraqi militias as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and Specially Designated Global Terrorists. In April, Washington offered rewards for information on leaders of three powerful militias in Iraq. The strikes mark the most significant joint U.S.-Saudi military action inside Iraq in years, and Zaidi’s emergency security council session is expected to produce a formal Iraqi government response in the coming days.