Russia says overnight US airstrikes in Iraq and Syria were deliberately designed to inflame tensions in the region and drag the region’s major powers into a new conflict.

Iraq has summoned both the US and UK envoys to the country in the follow-up to US airstrikes conducted on the Iraqi soil.

On the orders of US President Donald Trump, the U.S. military has ramped up the number of air and ground attacks against the Taliban, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper has said.