Most of the damage or destruction caused by the US’s airstrikes this past weekend were in Iraq and Syria, the Pentagon press secretary said on Monday.

On Friday and Saturday, the US conducted retaliatory strikes on targets in Iraq and Syria in response to the death of three American soldiers in Jordan. The US said it conducted “more than 85” targeted strikes, though officials did not disclose the exact number.

But on Monday, Major General Patrick Ryder said that “more than 80” of those strikes destroyed or severely damaged targets like command hubs, intelligence centres, ammunition bunkers and more for Iranian-backed militias.

On Monday, US officials walked back their previous claim that they gave Iraqi government a heads up before airstrikes were conducted on Friday.

“As for this specific response on Friday, there was not a pre-notification. We informed the Iraqis immediately after the strikes occurred,” Vedant Patel, the State Department deputy spokesperson, said.

“Iraq, like every country in the region, understood that there would be a response after the deaths of our soldiers,” Mr Patel added.

Iraq had disputed National Security Council communications coordinator John Kirby’s claims that the US “did inform the Iraqi government prior to the strikes.”

Mr Kirby said on Monday he relayed the information that was given to him at the time of the strikes.

“It was not as specific as it could have been, and I regret any confusion caused,” Mr Kirby said

A military spokesman of the Iranian-backed Houthis, Brigadier General. Yahya Saree, claimed in a statement that the group attacked two separate vessels, one American and one British, in the Red Sea on Tuesday. He provided no evidence to support the claim.

One of the ships the Houthis claimed attacking, the Morning Tide, is said to be continuing on its journey. The Morning Tide's owner, British firm Furadino Shipping, said no one was hurt in the attack and the ship will keep travelling towards Singapore.

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is pressing ahead with a diplomatic tour of the Middle East, meeting Egyptian leaders as part of his efforts to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, in exchange for the release of hostages.

Mr Blinken's visit also comes amid growing concerns in Egypt about Israel's stated intentions to expand the combat in Gaza to areas on the Egyptian border where many displaced Palestinians now live.

Israel's defense minister has said Israel's offensive will eventually reach the town of Rafah, on the Egyptian border, where more than half of Gaza's 2.3 million people have sought refuge and are now living in increasingly miserable conditions. Egypt has warned that an Israeli deployment along the border would threaten the peace treaty the two countries signed over four decades ago. Egypt fears an expansion of combat to the Rafah area could push terrified Palestinian civilians across the border, a scenario Egypt has said it is determined to prevent.

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The Pentagon said it was not aware of any Iranian deaths in the recent US strikes against Iran-linked targets in Iraq and Syria.

The US launched airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on Friday against more than 85 targets linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) and militias it backs in retaliation for a deadly attack on American troops.

Air Force Major General Patrick Ryder told reporters initial indications were that the strikes did not kill any Iranians. But he said other casualties other were likely, without giving details.

“It’s fair to conclude that there likely were casualties associated with these strikes,” he said, adding that the assessment was ongoing.

Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, a state security force including Iran-backed groups, said 16 of its members were killed including fighters and medics.

In Syria, the strikes killed 23 people who had been guarding the targeted locations, said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Iran-backed Houthis said they fired missiles at two vessels in the Red Sea overnight, causing minor damage to one cargo ship that was sailing off the coast of Yemen’s Hodeidah.

The group’s military spokesman said it fired naval missiles at the British-owed and Brabados-flagged Morning Tide along with the American Marshall Islands-flagged Star Nasia.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said just after midnight on Tuesday that it had received a report of a projectile fired at the port side of a ship located 57 nautical miles west of Hodeidah and that a small craft was seen nearby.

The projectile passed over the deck and caused slight damage to the bridge windows, but the vessel and crew were safe and proceeded on the planned passage, UKMTO added.

The owner of the Morning Tide, British firm Furadino Shipping, told Reuters the ship was currently sailing without problems, but gave no further information.

Yemen’s internationally recognised presidential council sacked the prime minister in an unexpected move that comes at a time when a US-led coalition has been striking targets of the government’s rivals, the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. A decree from the council appointed foreign minister Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak the new prime minister.

Mr Bin Mubarak, who is close to Saudi Arabia, replaced Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed, who was Yemen’s premier since 2018. The council didn’t give a reason behind the reshuffle. Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2014, when the Houthis overran the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north.